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Baptist First Stanriard ffinursB in TttrsB giuisinits 

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SUNDAY=SCHOOL 

METflOD AND HISTORY 

B. W. SPILMAN 
Field Secretary 

THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS 

L. P. LEAVELL 

Field Secretary 

TflE BOOKS OF TBE BIBLE 

HIGHT C. MOORE 
Editor Biblical Recorder 




Price, postpaid: Cloth, 50c.; Paper, 35c. 



Samriag-^grhnnl Board 

^auttern Baptist (Snntrenttnn 

Nashxxtlk, T:eitn. 




COPYRIGHTED 1909 

SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD 
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 



klSBARY Of CONGRESS 
I TwoCoDies Received 

juN H m^ 

Copyriifnt Entry >3 



I 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

A Word of Preface 7-9 

Standard of Excellence for Baptist Sunday Schools 10 

Introductory 11, 12 



1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
G. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 



1. 

2. 

3. 

^4. 

^5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 



FIRST DIVISION. 

Sunday-School Methods and History. 

SECTION I.-MANAGEMENT. 

Marks of a Well-Organized Sunday School 13 

The Pastor 14 

The Superintendent 17 

Other Officers 19 

Securing and Holding Attendance 22 

Grading the School 24 

Special Departments 26 

The Teachers' Meeting 30 

Equipment 33 

Special Days 35 

SECTION II.-TEACHING. 

The Teacher Personally - 37 

What a Teacher Should Kno\Y 39 

Gathering Material 41 

Planning the Lesson 42 

Attention 44 

The Question as a Factor in Teaching 4G 

Planting the Truth 48 

Making Truth Clear 51 

Covering the Lesson 52 

Reviewing the Lessons 54 



4 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

SECTION III -HISTORY. PAGE 

1. In Bible Times 57 

2. The Catechetical School 59 

3. Some Forerunners of the Modern Sunday School 61 

4. William Fox and His Movement 62 

5. Organizing the Forces 64 

6. The International Sunday School Association 66 

7. The Lesson System — I 68 

8. The Lesson System— II 70 

9. The Northern Baptists 73 

10. The Southern Baptists , . . 74 

11. Appendix — ^An Address 77 

SECOND DIVISION. 

Section '^^^ ^^P" ^^^ ^^^ Needs. 

1. The Teacher and the Pupil's Life 95 

2. Bird's-Eye View of Pupil's Life 98 

3. The Beginners— 3 to 5 106 

4. The Primary Department — 6 to 8 Ill 

5. The Juniors— 9 to 12 118 

6. The Intermediate Department — 13 to 15 125 

7. The Senior Department— 16 to 20. 131 

8. The Adult Department— 20 and over 136 

Taking a Larger View 141 

THIRD DIVISION. 

The Books of the Bible. 

Introductory 143 

Section I: Old Testament— Law and History. 

SEVENTEEN BOOKS. 

1. The Old Testament 145 

2. Genesis 147 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 5 

PAGE 

3. Exodus 149 

4. Leviticus 150 

5. Numbers 151 

6. Deuteronomy 152 

7. Joshua 153 

8. Judges and KutL 154 

9. First and Second Samuel 156 

10. First and Second Kings 157 

11. First and Second Chronicles 158 

12. The Books of Exilian History 160 

13. Review 161 

Section II: Old Testament - Poetry and Prophecy. 

TV^ENTY-TWO BOOKS. 

1. The Poetical Books 162 

2. Job 164 

3. Psalms '. ' 165 

4. The Books of Solomon 167 , 

5. The Prophetical Books 168 

6. Isaiah 170 

7. The Books of Jeremiah 171 

8. Ezekiel 172 

9. Daniel 174 

10. The Minor Prophets — North 175 

11. The Minor Prophets— South 177 

12. The Minor Prophets — Post-Exilian 178 

13. Review 180 

Section III: New Testament— The Histories and General 
Epistles. 

TWELVE BOOKS. ^ 

1. The New Testament 182 

2. The Historical Books - 184 * 

3. Matthew 186 



Q TABI.E OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

4. Mark 187 

5. Lulve 188 

G. John 189 

7. The Acts of the Apostles 190 

8. The General Epistles 192 

9. James 193 

10. The Epistles of Peter 194 

11. The Epistles of John 196 

12. Jiide 197 

13. Review 198 

Section IV: New Testament— The Pauline Epistles and the 
Revelation. 

FIFTEEN BOOKS. 

1. The Pauline Epistles 201 

2. Romans • 202 

3. First and Second Corinthians 205 

4. Galatians 206 

5. Ephesians 208 

6. Philippians 209 

7. Colossians 210 

8. First and Second Thessalonians 212 

9. First and Second Timothy 213 

10. Titus and Philemon 214 

n. Hebrews 215 

12. The Revelation . 217 

13. Review 218 



A WORD OF PREFACE. 



For convenience we have brought together in one handy 
volume the three departments of study in Teacher Training, 
namely : the Sunday School, the Pupil, and the Word of God. 
Sunday School Method and History is a complete revision of the 
author's former book, and "Books of the Bible" is entered here 
without revision, the same as it heretofore appeared, and some 
maps are added. 

The Sunday school, as never before, is being emphasized as a 
school, having its personnel, text-book and teaching, and yields 
its rich fruitage. As an institution it is a church school, and 
when in operation is a church service. The church has come to 
its own in the high and distinctive work of teaching. In the 
fulfillment of its divine commission or program for all the ages, 
the church has the fourfold function of doing mission work, of 
evangelizing in the making of disciples, of administration, and' 
of teaching. The last gives character, stability and effectiveness 
to the others. 

This gives the Sunday school a new place and a new service 
for the furtherance of the kingdom of God. But the new place 
is the outgrowth of what the Sunday school has been in the 
former years, and calls for trained teachers who shall be trained 
for the work and who shall teach in the power and demonstra- 
tion of the Spirit of God. With such a purpose and spirit their 
teaching differs from all other teaching, precisely as preaching 
differs from all other public speaking. "Our teachers are our 
real masters." 

We submit herewith a voice from the past, and give the word 
of two of our greatest leaders as to the importance of the Simday 
school and its effectiveness in denominational work. They were 

(7) 



8 A WORD OF PREFACE. 

speaking at the time to the Southern Baptist Convention in 
behalf of its former Sunday School Board, the one when pleading 
for the making of that Board, and the other when in a later 
session appealing to the convention for the earnest support 
of the Board in all of its work. 

Basil Manly, Jr., D.D. : 

It is needless to argue before this body the importance of 
Sunday schools, or the duty of promoting their establishment, or 

increasing their efficiency in every legitimate way 

The Sunday school is a great missionary to the future. While 
our other benevolent agencies relate primarily to the present, 
this goes to meet and bless the generation that is coming, to win 
them from ignorance and sin, to train futm^e laborers when our 
places shall know us no more. 

Sunday schools tend to direct increasing attention to the 
Bible, to elevate the ministry, to train young ministers, to build 
up churches in destitute parts, to foster the missionary spirit, 
to increase both our capacity aud willingness for every good 
work. 

That the subject comes fairly within the range of the con- 
stitution and accords with the design of the Convention, is 
unquestionable. 

John A. Broadus, D.D. : 

The Board affectionately urge upon the Convention and the 
churches the incalculable importance of the Sunday school work. 
. Thus the Sunday school is a helper to all other 
religious enterprises, while it is a rival to none. Everything 
Christians care for would greatly suffer if its influence were lost ; 
everything will gain in proportion as its influence is extended. 

Here is surely work enough for a distinct organization such 
as the Convention has established, and a work calling for the 
lively sympathies and the liberal support of all that love Him 
who loved little children. 

These words of wisdom w^ere spoken far back in the early 
sixties, when the country was in the throes of war, and every- 
thing in a state of confusion and chaos. These men in their 
wisdom and greatness of heart were laying the foundation for 



A WORD OF PREFACE. 9 

# 

the largest and most permanent good. Their words were 
mighty then, but far more weighty today in the new and power- 
ful development w^hich has come in the Sunday school work 
and its advancement along so many lines of usefulness. 

This book which we are sending out comes of the times, and 
will serve well in its noble purpose of making teachers. The 
three men who furnished the several parts are well known and 
honored everywhere for the great service they are rendering. 
Two of them are Field Secretaries of the Sunday School Board, 
the other served once in that capacity, but is now one of the 
ablest among Southern editors. Their work will speak for itself. 
We wish for it a wide-open door in all our churches. It will 
serve finely as a hand-book for pastors who wish to teach their 
own Sunday school teachers, and for classes wherever they may 
be formed, or for individuals who may wish to take such a 
course of study. It opens the way for larger things and invites 
to higher courses of study. 

J. M. FROST. 

Nashville, Tenn., May, 1909. 



10 



CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 



Standard of Excellence for Baptist Sunday Schools. 



9S- 





STEP 9. 


STEP 8. 


STEP 7. 


STEP 6. 


STEP 5. 


STEP 4. 


STEP 3. 


STEP 2. 


STEP 1. 



(read from the bottom up.) '^©^ 

CLASS A. The School Graded. 

Grade 1. — The school graded and using our supple- 
mental lessons, or others equal to them. Graded on the 
following plan: Primary 0-8 (cradle roll 0-3, beginners, 
class 4-5, main primary 6-8); junior 9-12, intermediate 
13-15, senior 16-20, adult 20-up, a teacher-training (or 
normal) class, at least one organized class for men and 
one for women. (Adult may be included in the senior in 
a small school.) 

Departments Separated. 

Grade 2. — Primary and junior departments occupying 
their own quarters, separated from the rest of the school by 
walls or movable partitions (or at least curtains). Class 
rooms or curtained space for 509c of the remaiuins: classes. 

Church Members Enrolled. 
Grade 3. — Seventy-five per cent of the church mem- 
bers to which the school belongs enrolled in the Sunday 
School, including the home department, and the average 
attendance in the main school, 75% of its enrollment. 

CLASS B. Normal Course. 

Grade 1. — Our normal course diploma, held by at least 
50% of the officers and teachers, or the reading course 
certificate by at least 75% of the officers and teachers. 

Regular Teachers' Meeting-s. 
Grade 2. — Regular teachers' meetings, attended by at 
least 50% of the officers and teachers. 

Bible Used in School. 

Grade 3. — Bibles used in the school session by schol- 
ars, instead of quarterlies. The use of both Bibles and 
quarterlies discouraged when the teacher is testing the 
scholar's lesson study. 

CLASS C. School Under Church Control. 

Grade 1.— School under control of the church— mak- 
ing stated reports to the church — church electing officers 
and teachers, school contributing to at least two general 
causes fostered by the church. 

Baptist Literature. 

Grade 2. — Use of Baptist literature by teachers and 
scholars; recommended by the school. 



A Perennial School. 

Grade 3.— A session of the school every month in the 
year. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Organizing new Siinclay-scliools is still necessary for several 
thousand Baptist churches in the South as yet have no service 
especially set for teaching the Word of God. This situation, 
however, is being rapidly overcome through the efficient service 
of the several State Boards. Through their missionaries and 
colporteurs and special Sunday-school men they are doing a 
great work for the advancement of this particular phase of 
Christian activity. And the importance of this work cannot be 
exaggerated in statement. Oue can scarcely imagine what the 
situation would be if every Baptist church in every State of the 
South had a good Sunday-school and was training its members 
in the Scriptures. 

In addition and somewhat in advance of the work of organ- 
izing Sunday-schools, there is great demand for increasing the 
efficiency of the schools already in existence. This can be done 
only through the training of the Sunday-school workers so as to 
make them more efficient in service. Our motto from the first 
until now has been: More schools, larger schools, better schools. 
And the Field Secretaries of the Sunday School Board of the 
Southern Baptist Convention put the chief emphasis of their 
work on the improvement of the schools already in existence, 
aiming to make the good schools still better, and to make the 
better schools the best. In doing this there must be better organ- 
ization and equipment, better management and teaching. We 
need trained workers all along the line, and better teaching will 
give larger and richer results. As we can reach a higher degi-ee 
of proficiency in this particular line, the better condition and 
the better membership we will have in our churches. 

This is the aim at which we are aiming in this book, and the 

(11) 



]^2 INTKODUCTORY. 

task to which we have set our heart and hand, covering the three 
subjects for study, namely : the school, the pupil, and the Word 
of God. There is a growing demand to have these three sub- 
jects presented in one book, and we are here trying to meet 
this demand. Of course we must condense so as to keep within 
prescribed space, and also within reach of those who most need 
help and for whom we are willing to spend our energies. 

The new condition in the Sunday-school world calls for new 
methods and appliances, and the changes have come rapidly. 
The little volume which the author sent out only a few years ago 
was then a pioneer in such literature. Its revision and enlarge- 
ment became necessary, and has been made throughout the 
entire work, as it is presented here together with the labors of 
my associates with their chosen and respective subjects. It is 
earnestly hoped that in this revised form it may render even a 
larger and more satisfactory service than it has done here- 
tofore. 

It is also deemed very important, and becoming all the more 
so because of the new^ conditions which we are facing, that these 
several subjects be treated from the Baptist viewpoint for use in 
Baptist schools. Through the years that have passsed Baptists 
have held an honorable place in Sunday-school history, and the 
rising generation as well as those who come after, should know 
this and catch the power of its inspiration for yet larger things 
in the kingdom of our Lord. We assign it a place of rank in 
our course of study because its importance makes it worthy of a 
place of rank. Much of this history has been found in obscure 
and out-of-the-way places, but is thoroughly trustworthy, every 
date and fact being supported by trustworthy documents. Its 
study is commended to all our people until the achievement of 
our predecessors in Sunday-school work shall be familiar in our 
homes and churches, and become our pride and joy. 



FIRST DIVISION. 



Sunday-School Method and History. 

SECTION I.— MANAGEMENT. 

I. Marks of a Well- Organised Sunday-School. 
Every Sunday-school should have an ideal toward which 
it should strive. The higher the ideal the better the school. 
Below are stated some of the things toward which the wide- 
awake Sunday-school should strive. 

1. It should sustain the right relation to the church. If 
the school be a church school, then the superintendent should 
be selected by the church and he should report to the church. 

2. The constituency, consisting of all persons, young and 
old, who ought to study the Bible under the direction of 
a local church, should be know^n by the school, reached by it 
and held in the membership of the school. 

3. It should be well organized by providing a definite duty 
to each person connected with the school ; and by providing 
for every work which should be done by the school by the 
assignment of that work to certain individuals. 

4. The ofiicers should be both willing and capable to do 
the work assigned them. Ignorance is no excuse if the 
person be possessed of average intelligence. Books are abun- 
dant. 

5. The school should be kept open all the year. The scrip- 
ture to be studied is arranged in great subjects to cover a 
year to the subject. 

G. The school should be graded. 

(13) 



]^4 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

7. The music should be. good, lively, and worshipful. 

8. There should be a Teachers' Meeting for the weekly- 
study of the lessons. 

9. There should be a Teachers' Training Class for the 
preparation of teachers. 

10. The library should be well supplied with the very best 
, books; and provision made for the use of the books. 

11. Certain Special Days should be observed, such as will 
best help the cause the school. 

12. The offerings should be arranged for with system, not 
leaving the finances to be provided by a haphazard offering. 
The collecting and distribution of the offering should be 
done intelligently and for the right objects. 

13. The reports should be made on a blackboard and should 
be kept neatly, permanently and be easily accessible. 

14. Appliances should be provided. A building adapted to 
the need. Literature from your own denominational publish- 
ing house and such other as is needed ; Bibles for use in the 
classes ; song books, blackboards, charts, maps and whatever 
else is needed for the efficiency of the work. 

15. The final test of the Sunday-school is in the results. 
A well-organized Sunday-school is organized for a purpose : 
to save the lost, to build up the Christian in righteousness, to 
give the right ideals of life, to increase the knowledge of 
the Bible, to give the world wide vision. 

II. The Pastor. 

The pastor is the chief officer of the Sunday-school just as 
he is of every other department of the work of the church. 
He need not an(J most often should not direct the details of 
the Sunday-school. 

1. His attitude toward the Sunday-school will, as a rule, 
determine the kind of Sunday-school which the church wilf 
have. The hostile pastor means a dead Sunday-school. The 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 15 

pastor who is indifferent will have an inefficient Sunday- 
school. The pastor who knows nothing about Sunday-school 
work will have a Sunday-school far behind the times. The 
pastor who is well informed about the very best in the Sunday- 
school world, and who gives his presence and sympathetic 
co-operation to his workers, will have a good Sunday-school. 

2. His leadership. How the churches need it. And the 
workers want it. The pastor shoulc" equip himself for leader- 
ship in this direction. One of these days all of our schools 
for Christian education will have a department of Sunday- 
school methods in the course of study. Following the lead of 
the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Ky., 
many of the seminaries of the country are establishing chairs 
of Sunday-school Pedagogy. For the pastor who is denied 
the seminary course there is a way open. Many books are 
available ; Sunday-school Institutes, Training Schools, Con- 
ventions, are easily within reach. All over the country are 
Sunday-schools of the very best which may be visited. 

3. His work during the week. A pastor who keeps his eyes 
open will find abundant opportunity for helping his Sunday- 
school during the week. 

He may Ivcep a constant lookout for new scholars. He may 
look into the needs of the scholars who are already in the 
school. He may visit the sick ones. 

His pastoral visiting affords an opportunity. Let him 
find out the members of his church who do not attend Sunday- 
school. A systematic round of pastoral visiting with the dis- 
tinct object in view of placing on the hearts of his mem- 
bers the obligation to attend the Sunday-school would have 
its effect in less than a week. The Adult Department and the 
Home Department would show results. 

The pastor is generally the best equipped Bible student 
in the congregation. Some suggestions as to how he may 
use this knowledge to help the Sunday-school workers: 



Ig CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

(1) Conduct a Training Class for the teachers and those who 
may become teachers. 

(2) Conduct the weekly teachers' meeting. By doing this 
he could multiply his usefulness as many times as there are 
teachers. 

(3) Use the prayer-meeting. As this volume goes to press 
the Sunday-school world is studying the Book of Acts for 
a year. Many pastors are now using the mid-week prayer- 
meeting as the opportunity not to teach the Sunday-school 
lessons, but to give a broad, comprehensive treatment of the 
book in a series of fifty or more studies. 

(4) Preach special sermons. As we approach the life of 
Paul, a sermon on Paul would help to arouse interest. Or per- 
haps as the study of Jacob has just been concluded, let the 
pastor preach on his life, summing up the things studied. 
Invite all of the members of the Primary and Junior Depart- 
ments to hear the sermon ; make it especially for them. 

(5) Hold during the year a week of special Bible Conference 
for the Sunday-school workers. 

4. On Sunday. There are a few things which a pastor need 
not do on Sunday: 

(1) Try to run the school. 

(2) Teach a class. He ought to give his best to his pulpit. 

(3) Make a speech every Sunday. 

(4) Interrupt the teachers and classes by wandering 
around among them. 

There are some things which he can do with helpfulness: 

(1) Be there. It is an uphill business to enlist the men of 
a church when the pastor thinks it not worth his while to be 
there. If we cannot enlist the men we lose the boys. 

(2) Study conditions. Offer suggestions. Help to greet 
strangers. 

(3> When the newly elected officers and teachers are to go 
on duty for the year have a public Installation Service. It 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEIMENT. I'J 

will let the general congregation know that the church is en- 
gaged in the Bible study business. 

The Sunday-school is a real part of the activity of the 
church. It is the pastor's ripest mission field ; it is his 
strongest ally in winning souls for Christ. It is his best 
field and his best force. Happy he who has learned this and 
works at it. 

III. The Superintendent. 

1. He should be elected by the church and report annually 
to the church. 

2. The qualifications. These lessons wall deal largely with 
the question of methods, and hence the matter of the qualifica- 
tions need not find a large place in the study. Let it be taken 
for granted that the church is going to select the best man 
available for the office of superintendent. He should culti- 
vate those things which will make his work most effective. 
Just a few of them will be noticed. 

Even-tempered, cheerful, agreeable, considerate of the 
opinions of others, firm in dealing with the problems pre- 
sented, fond of children (who make up a large part of his 
school), sympathetic, level-headed, punctual, a progressive 
spirit, willing to learn, with executive ability, patient, wdth 
a love for the Bible, a real Christian with the spirit of Christ, 
a Bible student who knows the Bible and what it teaches, and 
who believes it — these are some of the things which the man 
who has the office of superintendent should try to be. 

3. WeeJc day icork. A superintendent who does nothing 
but call the Sunday-school to order and conduct the exer- 
cises on Sunday is but little better than no superintendent. 
The real w^ork is done during the week. Some of the things 
which he may do will be pointed out. 

(1) Plan for the school in general. How many problems 
need to be worked out. Some one must do some thinking 
about them. Ever alert for new plans when they come to 
2 



]^3 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

his notice he will adapt them to his school. He will attend 
meetings for workers. He will look ahead for special occa- 
sions coming. Every department of the school should pass in 
review before him during the week. 

(2) Planning for next Sunday. It is well for the superin- 
tendent to have a book with at least fifty-two pages in it with 
each page set apart for a given Sunday. He should begin 
many months ahead to arrange the program for a given 
Sunday. Let the entire program be grouped around the 
lesson for the day. Many are to be called on to help 
with the program. Perhaps a recitation would be in or- 
der. It must be arranged. The songs must be selected. 
Keep in close touch with the chorister. The teachers' 
meeting will be a good place to read the first draft of the 
program for Sunday and let the teachers know what to expect. 
They may give valuable suggestions. 

(3) Visiting. The superintendent of the school is a busy 
man. He does not have the time to take from his business 
to do much visiting. But he hears that a teacher is sick. 
It is only a block out of the way down town to business or 
back from the business to drop in for three minutes to make 
inquiry. A young man has moved to the town. Of course 
the Lookout Committee has found him. The Baraca Class 
has him on the prospective list, the pastor has called by the 
place where he is at w^ork ; that is all right. Let the super- 
intendent drop by, too. 

4. WorTc on Sunday. There are five periods of time the use 
of which should greatly concern the superintendent: (1) Be- 
fore the school is called to order; (2) the opening exercises; 
(3) the lesson period; (4) the closing exercises, and (5) after 
dismission. 

Be on time, which means to be in the building at least 
fifteen minutes before the school is called to order. See to 
the ventilation, the temperature of the room, and a dozen 
other things which need attention. If we had sextons who 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. X9 

know and would do — but why speculate? Greet the scholars 
and teachers as they come. 

Call the school to order on time. Never mind if the chorister 
is not on time ; if there is no pianist go on without the 
pianist. 

The program has been prepared during the week. If some- 
thing arises which makes it expedient to change, do it. 

While the lesson is being taught protect the teachers and 
classes from interruptions. Do not visit the classes nor allow 
another to do it. Have the class secretary take the report 
of the class to the Sunday-school secretary. If every one must 
teach in one room, have all of the business of the school 
conducted in the back of the room, not in front where every 
scholar can see what is taking place. 

During the closing exercises have little speech-making. 

Close on the minute. If a review of the lesson is attempted, 
let it be such as has been planned for in the teachers' meeting. 

Linger for a while after the school is dismissed. Be busy all 
the while studying the school, w^atching for the places of 
failure. 

Throughout the session, both in yourself and in others, 
cultivate the spirit of reverence. It is God's Word, God's 
house, God's work. Let that never be forgotten. 

IV. The Other Officers. 

The business of the superintendent is to superintend. There 
should be an officer whose duty it should be to see to the 
doing of everything that ought to be done. A superintendent 
who attempts to do all of the detail work is, from the very 
nature of the case, so handicapped that it is impossible for 
him to have a large, well-organized school. The larger the 
school the more officers as a rule. 

Have as many officers as your school needs. Do not over- 
load with machinery. If your school does not need as many 



20 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAI*. 

officers as are mentioned below, do not have them ; if it needs 
more, have them ; if it needs different ones, have them. 

Just a brief view of the officers witli a mere statement 
of their work will have to suffice for this treatment. For a 
detailed statement of the duties of officers see the Convention 
Normal Course No. 2. 

1. The Pastor. His duties have already been discussed. 

2. The Superintendent. His duties have already been dis- 
cussed. 

3. First Associate Superintendent. If the purpose be for 
this officer to help the superintendent to do his work, then 
it will be better to let the office be designated assistant super- 
intendent. If, on the other hand, it be the purpose to have 
the associate superintendents to do their own work, it will 
be better to call them associates rather than assistants. As 
a suggestive arrangement, let us suppose that the first asso- 
ciate superintendent has as his duty the business of supplying 
the school with scholars and the grading of them. Here is a 
field to keep any one man busy in the Sunday-school work. 

4. Second Associate Superintendent. Let this officer have 
charge of the matter of supplying the school with teachers 
and looking after the absentees. He could see that a Teacher 
Training Class was being conducted in the school ; he could 
draw from the supply teachers' class for teachers for the 
classes whose teachers are absent ; he might act as secretary 
of the teachers' meeting. He would have general oversight 
of the plans for keeping track of the absentees. 

5. Secretary. To keep the records. Study the newest, best 
methods, and keep the school up with the very best. Let the 
report be placed on a blackboard. Keep permanent records. 
In making the reports to the general denominational bodies let 
the number of scholars reported be the number taught by the 
church during the past year, and not merely the names on the 
roll when the report is made. 

In many of the large schools it will require a number of 



SUNDAY SCHOOL 2»rAT^AGEMENT. 21 

secretaries to do the ^York. It will always be better to have 
the class secretary bring the reports to the secretary than 
for the secretary to disturb the classes by going to them for 
the reports. In large schools the department secretary would 
look after that. 

6. Treasurer. This office may be combined with that of 
secretary, but it is generally better to have two officers than 
one. The treasurer who has no other duty than to receive and 
pay out funds and report annually has missed the idea in 
the work of a treasurer. He should be the officer to help to 
develop the spirit of giving in the school. Let him report to 
the governing body of the school at least once each month 
the financial condition of the school. 

7. Superintendent of the Home Department. The duties of 
this officer will be treated briefly under the chapter headed 
"Special Departments." 

8. Superintendent of the Cradle Roll. See "Special Depart- 
ments." 

9. Lil)rarian. The officer who has charge of the literature 
end of the school. In some schools the secretary has charge 
of the periodical literature ; in others the librarian has charge 
of all- of the literature, including the care of the song books 
and Bibles. 

The duties of the librarian would be to care for the books, 
secure new ones, call attention to them, keep track of them 
as they are loaned to the members of the school. 

10. Direetor of Music. See that there are plenty of song 
books ; that they are good ones ; train the singers ; lead them 
in the music ; practice with the singers. If the duty of select- 
ing songs devolves on the director, let him always select 
them with a view to the lesson for the day. 

11. Pianist or Organist. The officer who leads the instru- 
mental part of the music. Be on time. 

12. Superintendent of Beneficence. The officer who has 
charge of the development of the spirit of beneficence. Every 



22 CONVENTION NOBMAL MANUAL. 

school ought to contribute to missions, to the orphanage and 
possibly to other objects. This officer will have general over- 
sight of that work. 

13. The Historian. To write an annual record of the things 
which have taken place in the school life during the year. 

If other officers are needed, provide them. 

y. Secueing and Holding Attendance. 

1. Know the constituency. Who ought to be in your Sunday- 
school? Five classes will be mentioned: (1) All members of 
your church. (2) All persons who belong to your denomina- 
tion living near your church and not able to attend Sunday- 
school in their own churches. (3) All persons naturally in- 
clined to be of your denomination. This would, 6f course, in- 
clude the unconverted members of the families affiliated with 
the church. (4) Those who, belonging to other denominations, 
do not attend Sunday-school anywhere. (5) Persons who have 
no denominational preference. 

A practical way to find out this is to appoint a Lookout 
Committee, or, better, let the first associate superintendent 
take it in charge, and divide the territory to be covered into 
convenient districts, having in each district one or two persons 
who, every three months, will report the name of each person 
falling under any one of the above-named classes. This will 
afford an intelligent basis for work. 

2. Place the right emphasis on the Sunday-school work. As 
long as we consider and speak of the Sunday-school as a side 
issue, and so long as we consider it an institution where small 
children and some pious women and a few soft-brained men 
gather, so long will we lose from our schools the majority of 
those who enter them. The best way to hold the boy is to le^ 
him know that the Sunday-school is a place for manly men. 
The Sunday-school can be of great service to business men, 
and they can do much for the school. 

3. Contests. A healthful rivalry between the Baracas and 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 23 

the Philathea classes will often help to build up both. A 
contest in the primary department as to whether the boys or 
girls can outnumber may result in additional scholars. 

The old, time-honored plan of the red and blue contest, 
which has been in use since the days before Christ, has been 
found to work wonders in the Sunday-school field. The plan 
briefly stated is as follows : With all officers and teachers 
neutral, let the school select a captain of the reds and a 
captain of the blues. These two captains are to take the 
school class by class and choose sides. The sides are then to 
begin work to see which side can bring in the largest number 
of scholars to the school. 

A dangerous methc/d this, and must be carefully handled. 
Unless your school is well organized, with a trained teaching 
force, machinery all well oiled and running smoothly ; with 
an organization ready to stand any kind of a shock, you had 
better not attempt it. The after-effects are sometimes depress- 
ing. The outgoing of the tide may carry with it some of the 
old guard. 

4. Rewards. Some kind of public recognition is helpful. 
Never offer a prize of intrinsic value. Do not offer a prize 
to the scholar who brings the largest number of new schol- 
ars. Competition of person against person in the school 
is nearly always hurtful because it is often unjust. Make 
to every one bringing a new scholar the offer of a 
beautiful pasteboard fish, or some such reward, which may be 
purchased from any dealer in Sunday-school supplies, for a 
few cents per dozen. 

5. Special Days. Let the day stand for something definite. 
It will help to advertise the school. Keep your school before 
the public. 

6. Personal TFor/j. There is no method so good as wisely 
directed personal work. All of the devices may help, but all 
of them together without the aid of personal work will be of 
little permanent value. 



24 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

7. Follow up the absentees. Let each class be divided into 
two bands. The one to bring in new scholars and the other 
to look up absentees. Divide out the list of absentees before 
the class is dismissed and let the report be made to the 
teacher before the close of the day. 

8. A Good School. This is both the best method to bring 
in new scholars and the only method of holding them. People 
will go where it is worth their while to go ; they will stay if 
they get something when they go. The little boy who wished 
his mother to leave the Cochran Art Gallery, in Washington 
City, and go elsewhere because he wished to "go where some- 
thing is going on," sounded the note of warning to all per- 
sons in charge of Sunday-schools. Not alone little boys, but 
older boys and men and women, are going "where something 
is going on." See to it that something takes place in your 
school. ^ . 

VI. Grading the School. 

1. What is grading? The adjustment of the scholars intd 
classes in such a way as to give the best possible opportunity 
for successful teaching. 

2. Why grade? It is impossible to secure the best results 
without it. The five-year-old child and the sixty-year-old man 
do not see things from the same angle ; they do not need 
the same kind of instruction ; they do not need th€ same 
method. The same is true of the six-year-old boy and the 
twelve-year-old boy. The teacher needs it ; the scholar needs it. 

3. The Classification Oflicer. He may be one of the asso- 
ciate superintendents. He may be especially appointed for 
the position. Let no scholar's name be placed on any class 
book, nor on the Sunday-school register, unless it is placed 
there by order of this officer. 

4. The time for grading. Let it be supposed that your 
school is not graded, how is it to be done? There are two 
methods used so far as the time is concerned. By one plan 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 25 

the work is undertaken all in a single day. The plan of 
grading is settled on ; the teachers are selected for the 
various grades. The scholars are then assigned to the grade 
and class to which they belong. With the right kind of firm- 
ness this may be done. It is the quickest and perhaps the 
easiest way to do it. 

Another way to do it is to grade the school on paper. 
Then provide for a Promotion Day, and with exercises suitable 
for the day, promote those who ought to be promoted. Then 
see to it that no scholar ever enters a class without the 
assignment being made by the classification oflicer. The 
school will thus be graded in a very short time. 

5. The Basis of Grading. What principles should govern 
the grading of the scholars? Several considerations might 
enter into it. 

(1) Intellect. What the scholar knows should be an ele- 
ment in the matter of grading. But let it be the smallest ele- 
ment. The precocious youngster of seven should not under 
any consideration be placed in the class with the boys twelve 
to fifteen. Many a boy of ten is in intellect far ahead of 
many mature men. Better not place him in the class with 
them. Intellect should be the determining factor when the 
question of age is about an even balance. 

(2) Religious need is the thing about which we should 
be most concerned. People naturally group themselves together 
in the world. It will be well in our Sunday-school work to 
follow the natural way and do the same thing. 

(3) Since the religious need is largely- determined by the 
age and experience of the individual, age is the best test of 
grading. All children of ten years, whatever their intellectual 
advancement, see things about alike and have about the same 
needs. And they can be taught about the same way. 

In secular schools the course of study i^ largely shaped 
with a view to the development of the intellectual powers. 



26 CONVENTION NOKMAL MANUAL. 

The Sunday-school is not an institution for the development 
of the intellectual powers. 

A man might stay in the Sunday-school forty years and be 
but little stronger mentally than when he entered. The 
Sunday-school seeks to cultivate the heart life. Hence grad- 
ing on the basis of the intellect simply is not the wisest plan. 
The age and religious need should be the chief factors. 

6. Names of Departments. The departments as outlined are 
those adopted by the best Sunday-schools generally. The Field 
Workers' Conference of the Southern Baptist Convention has 
adopted these as the names to be recommended to our people. 

For large schools it is recommended that the assignment to 
classes in the department be determined by the nearest birth- 
day, there being a class for each year. 

The departments are as follows: 

I. Primary — Birth to 9. 

1. Ctadle Roll— Birth to 3. 

2. Beginners — 3 to 5. 

3. Main primary — 6 to 8. 

II. Junior— 9 to 12. 

III. Intermediate — 13 to 15. 

IV. Senior— 16 to 20. 

V. Adult— 20 to 100. 

Some of these grades may necessarily overlap sometimes. 
The Baraca and Philathea classes would take students in the 
senior department and keep them far into the adult period. 

VII. Special Departments. 

In addition to the regular departments of the school, ever'y 
well-organized Sunday-school should have certain special de- 
partments. 

1. The Cradle Roll. While this is listed as a department 
of the school, the members do not attend the sessions of the 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 



27 



The Graded Sunday School. 



SHUT IN'S 
SHUT OUT'S 



HOME-STUDY CLASSES 

HOME 

( Bible CLass or Advanced Quarterly) 



SELECTED TEACHER TRAINING 

(Convention Training Courses and Bible Class Quarterly) 



MATURE 

MEN AND 

WOMEN 



ORGANIZED CLASSES 

ADULT 

(Bible Class Quarterly) 



16 

AND 

UP 

— 16TH BIRTH DAY- 
— 15TH BIRTHDAY 
— 14TH BIRTHDAY 
— 13TH BIRTHDAY- 
— 12TH BIRTHDAY 
— IITH BIRTHDAY 
— lOTH BIRTHDAY 

— 9TH BIRTHDAY- 

— 8TH BIRTHDAY 

— 7TH BIRTHDAY 

— 6TH BIRTHDAY- 

— 5TH BIRTHDAY 

— 4TH BIRTHDAY 

— 3D BIRTHDAY _ 

— 2D BIRTHDAY 
—1ST BIRTHDAY 

BIRTH 



ORGANIZED CLASSES- 
BAR AC A-PHILATHE A 
AGOGA-AMOMA 

SENIOR 

(Advanced Quarterly) 



BOYS AND GIRLS SEPARATED 

IMTERMEDIATE 

(Intermediate Quarterly) 



BOYS AND GIRLS SEPARATED 

JUNIOR 

(Junior Quarterly) 



PRIMARY 

(Children's Quarterly and Picture Lesson Cards) 



BEGINNERS 

(Children's Quarterly and Picture Lesson Cards) 



CRADLE ROLL 

(Birthday Cards, Season Meetings, Etc.) 



28 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

school. The purpose in view is to enlist the future members 
of the primary department before influences begin their work 
to lead them elsewhere. Often the parent may be reached 
through the placing of the name of the baby on the Cradle 
Roll. 

The method is simple. Appoint a superintendent of the 
Cradle Roll. All things else being equal, the superintendent 
of the Primary Department should occupy this ofiice. Secure 
the names of the babies too young to attend the school. Enroll 
the names on a roll and when the birthday comes round send 
a little card of remembrance to the baby ; call on the baby 
occasionally. When old enough to enter the Beginner's De- 
partment give a certificate of promotion on promotion day. 
Simple as can be. But very helpful. All publishers of Sunday- 
school supplies can furnish you with list of appliances. 

2. Home Department. For another class of persons who 
do not attend. There are many who by reason of age, in- 
firmity, occupation, or for some other reason, cannot or will not 
attend the sessions of the Sunday-school. For these the Home 
Department offers the opportunity for Bible study in connec- 
tion with the work of the church without attending the sessions 
of the school. 

The method is as simple as that of the Cradle Roll. Secure 
a Superintendent of the Home Department. L,et this super- 
intendent divide the territory to be occupied into as many 
districts as are needed. Secure a visitor for each of the 
districts ; the superintendent may be one of the visitors. 
Secure the names of as many persons. as are willing to study 
the lesson for a half hour each week. Supply them with a 
lesson help and wuth an envelope having on the back of it 
a blank for keeping the record for the quarter. At the end of 
the quarter go with another quarterly and envelope. Collect 
the envelope with the record on the back and whatever 
offering the student wishes to make in the envelope. 

This plan of work helps in many ways. It enlists more 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 29 

people in Bible study than \youlcl otherwise engage in it. It 
helps the pastor, Avho will receive from the Home Department 
visitors much valuable information which he w^ould not other- 
wise receive. It helps the visitor in that it gives a service to 
be done in the name of Jesus Christ. It helps the school ; all 
history showing that one of the best ways to bring people 
into the school is to enlist them in the Home Department. 

3. The Drop In, or Strangers' Class. A special class for 
persons who cannot attend regularly, but wlio would be glad to 
drop in whenever they can. Tlie class into which to invite 
strangers who have just dropped into the school for a day. 

4. Supply Teachers' Class. A class of prospective teachers 
who agree to supply when their services are needed. One of 
the best teachers ought to be here and the lesson taught one 
Sunday in advance of the regular lesson. 

5. Classes for Special Classes of Persons. In our cities are 
many deaf persons whose presence in the regular class would 
do them very little good. If two or more may be induced 
to attend, 'organize a class for them. So w^ith other special 
classes of persons. 

6. Baraca and Pliilatliea Classes. The former for young 
men, the latter for young women. The idea here is that 
of organization applied to the' individual Sunday-school class. 
Young men and women band themselves together for the pur- 
pose of Bible study. They elect such officers as they need, 
including a teacher. The class meets at the same time witli 
the regular school and is a part of it. The president calls 
the class to order ; the secretary calls the roll ; the treasurer 
takes the collection ; the teacher teaches the lesson. Com- 
mittees are appointed ; week-day meetings are held w^hen de- 
sired ; socials are provided and such other features as the class 
may wish. The principle running through the whole plan 
is that young men and young women have both the inclina- 
tion and the sense to manage their affairs rather than have 
them managed for them. 



30 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

7. Normal Class. It is worth while some times to pick out 
a number of the best available persons and place them in a 
Normal Class to study to become teachers. This only when it 
is not practicable to have a class organized to meet at another 
hour. 

8. Messenger Boys. While not a Sunday-school class, it is 
a special department of the Sunday-school work. Boys are 
asked to volunteer their services to take messages to absen- 
tees. A teacher is sick. The superintendent wishes to send 
a message. Perhaps it is a scholar absent and the teacher 
wishes to send the message. The boys, always glad of an 
opportunity to be of service, are ready for it. 

VIII. The Teachers' Meeting. 

Without it no Sunday-school can do its best w^ork. Many 
schools exist without it, but they fall far short of doing the 
best that is possible. 

1. Definition. A teachers' meeting in the generally accepted 
use of that term is a meeting of the teachers and such others 
as desire to meet with them weekly for the study of the Sun- 
day-school lesson for the next Sunday. The purpose being both 
to study the lesson itself and methods of teaching it. 

2. Time of Meeting. This is one of the perplexing problems. 
People are busy. Generally the very people who are the best 
teachers are the ones v^ho wish the benefits of such a meeting ; 
these are likewise most likely to be the persons with the 
smallest amount of time available. The time will have much 
to do with the efficiency of the meeting. Some suggestions 
are offered. 

(1) Immediately following the Sunday-school session. This 
is possibly the poorest time. Not one teacher in ten will have 
made any special study of the lesson for next Sunday at this 
time, and without such special study it is not possible to get 
the best results. 

(2) Just before the Sunday-school session. Many schools 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. ^\ 

use this time. The trouble with it is that there is no time for 
the teachers to wisely fit into their own preparation anything 
which may come to them as the result of the meeting. 

(3) At the close of the midweek prayer-meeting. With a 
pastor who is in sympathy with the idea and with one who has 
good terminal faculties, and with a congregation willing that 
the prayer-meeting should be held for only forty minutes, and 
with the teachers' meeting shortened to about forty minutes, 
this time might do well. 

(4) The hour just before the prayer-meeting. In many 
schools this hour is used. If the prayer-meeting be at 8 
o'clock the teachers meet promptly at half-past six and spend 
an hour with the teachers' meeting, then spend a half hour 
together in a light lunch, then go directly into the prayer- 
meeting. 

(5) A special evening for it. Let the meeting generally be 
on Friday at such hour as is most convenient. This will give 
all an opportunity to prepare the lesson and will give time 
for incorporating into the lesson what may be of value in the 
meeting. 

If the teachers will not attend the meeting at a special hour, 
have at some more undesirable hour when they will attend. 

3. Place of Meeting. Select the same place and stick to it. 
Let it be the most centrally located if possible. The place 
should be provided with a good blackboard and with a refer- 
ence library for the use of the teachers. A set of maps would 
be helpful. 

4. The Leader. The best teacher available. Do not change 
leaders. In the study of the lessons we are studying a course 
of Bible history. One person can teach the course better than 
a half dozen can do it. 

5. The Program. Let it be simple. Do not turn the meet- 
ing into a social club. Open with a song and prayer, or maybe 
a prayer alone. -Teach the lesson. Spend a few minutes 
in a discussion of any problems connected with the work of 



32 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

the classes. The teachers' meeting ought not to be the execu- 
tive body of the school to plan for the general conduct of its 
affairs. Those matters should be taken up in the session of 
the superintendent's cabinet when all of the officers and 
teachers are supposed to be present. 

6. Methods of Teaching the Lesson, Much of the success 
of the meeting is going to depend on the method used in 
teaching the lesson. Some of the methods used are: 

(1) Lecture to the teachers. Unless the meeting has the 
vitality usually ascribed to the cat with nine lives, and the 
teacher a man or woman of unusual genius, this method will 
make short work of it. It will kill the meeting. Do not 
do it. 

(2) Teach the lesson just as it would be done to any class 
of adults. This is all right. Add to the teaching a sugges- 
tion now and then as to the best use to make of the lesson 
in teaching various departments. 

(3) Teach the lesson as though the teachers were children. 
This is done very effectively in the primary unions of the 
cities. It serves both the purposes of teaching the truths of 
the lesson and giving an object lesson at the same time. 

(4) The question box plan. Let each teacher in the prep- 
aration during the week write the questions which would 
probably be asked in the lesson by any possible scholar ; or 
the questions which arise in the teaching of the lesson and 
place them in a box to be opened by the leader and discussed 
by the teachers. 

(5) Assign specific work to the teachers on points to be 
brought out in the lesson for the next meeting. Call for these 
in the progress of the teaching. 

(6) The angle method. This method, so widely used, is to 
pick out certain phases of the lesson which ought to be used 
in teaching any lesson and assigning some one or more of these 
to different teachers for preparation each week. As an exam- 
ple : The approach, lesson story, analysis, references, biogra- 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 33 

phj', Orientalisms, principal teachings, illustrations, objects, 
practical points for every-day life, etc. 

7. Benefits of the Teachers' Meeting. Some of them are: 

(1) It gives to each teacher the benefit of the study of all 
of the teachers. 

(2) It guarantees some unity of teaching in the school. 

(3) It will often serve to correct what would be gross error 
in teaching. 

(4) It will give to the pastor and superintendent an oppor- 
tunity to know what is being taught in the school. A word 
from the desk can be wisely spoken if the speaker knows what 
has been taught. 

IX. Equipment. 

A Sunday-school can no more do its best work without 
equipment than can a carpenter. While a good equipment 
cannot make a good teacher, and while equipment is one of the 
minor considerations in the matter of teaching, yet it is an 
important consideration and should not be neglected. A mer^ 
mention of some of the things needed to make up the equip- 
ment will be all that will be attempted in this brief treat- 
ment. 

1. The Building, It is an index to the thought of the con- 
gregation as to the Sunday-school. The modern church build- 
ing with no provision for the teaching service is an anachron- 
ism. A building, with rooms for teaching, with seats com- 
fortable for those who use them, with light and ventilation, is 
included in the plan of the modern church architect. 

2. BiMes. It is the text-book of the school. Let it be 
used in the classes and in the opening exercises. The ideal 
plan is for every member of the school to have his own 
Bible. When this condition cannot be brought about the next 
best thing is for each class to have its own Bible box with 
Bibles enough for each member of the class. 

3. Literature. Supply the school with everything needful 

3 



34 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

in the line of periodical literature. Use that issued by your 
own denominational publishing house. Place on the list the 
periodical for the use of every officer and teacher as well as 
for the scholars. Add to those which treat of the lesson the 
story papers issued by your own people. 

4. Maps. A Sunday-school is deficient in its equipment which 
does not provide for a set of good maps for use in teaching 
and review of the lesson. 

5. Charts. Such as have on them the Lord's Prayer, the 
Twenty-third Psalm, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes 
and various other things used in supplemental work. 

6. Pictures. Those illustrating the lesson and other Bible 
scenes should be on every class-room wall. The appeal to the 
eye is a powerful agency for good or evil. Let the Sunday- 
school use it for good. 

7. Blackl)oards. In every class-room. For the use of the 
secretary in making his report; for the use of the superin- 
tendent in his work from the iDlatform ; for the use of the 
librarian to make his announcements. 

8. Books. A good library is a power for good. Have one 
with a well-selected list of books for both the teachers, 
officers and scholars. Books on Bible study, Sunday-school 
methods, missions, biographies, fiction, theology, temperance, 
church history and many other subjects should find a place. 

9. ^0/?^ dooks. Plenty of them with good music and the 
right kind of words. Shoddy music lowers the whole moral 
fiber of our beings ; erroneous ideas are often planted with 
the words of a song. 

10. Organ or piano. Violins, cornets and various instruments 
may be used to make melody to the Lord. 

11. Supplies for the secretary. A good desk. An up-to-date 
card system for the records. A duplicating machine. Any- 
thing else that he may need for the more efficient prosecution 
of his work. 

12. See that the Primary Department is equipped as it 



SUNDAY SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 35 

should be. This should be looked after with. care. The first 
impressions of the Sunday-school last through life. If the 
thought which first enters is that the school is a dark, musty, 
disagreeable place, with high, impossible seats, it will be 
many years before that idea can be blotted out. 

X. Special Days. 

A special day is for the purpose of emphasizing some work 
by calling unusual attention to it. Have as many as will be 
helpful. About three or four each year in addition to the 
special days which come with fixed regularity, such as review 
day and Christmas, etc., will be as many as will be profitable. 
A special day may be set apart for : 

1. Installation. Every school ought to observe this day. 
When the new officers and teachers for the year are to take 
charge of the work the pastor can do no better thing than have 
a public installation of the officers and teachers at the regular 
preaching hour. 

2. Promotion. The day when all scholars are moved up from 
the lower to the higher classes. 

3. Rally. A day for the gathering back of the scholars 
who have left the school. And also for bringing in new ones. 

4. Children. The day for a good time with the children, 
when they sing, recite, etc. 

5. Home Department. A special day for the Home Depart- 
ment members to visit the school. A fine opportunity to en- 
list them as regular attendants. 

6. Picnic or Field. The out-of-door frolic for the school in 
the spring or summer. This of course being on a week day. 

7. Decision. The day when special effort is made for the 
salvation of scholars. 

8. Christmas. Make it an occasion to teach the great lesson 
that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 

9. Orphanage. Many schools have it once each month. 
Every school might profitably have a special day set apart 



36 CONVENTION NOEMAIi MANUAL. 

for this purpose with the annual offering. The Sunday before 
Thanksgiving would be a good opportunity. 

10. Missionary. The day for special emphasis on missions. 
There might be special exercises in connection with the lesson 
set apart in the lesson helps as the missionary lesson. 

11. Cradle Roll. Invite all of the babies. They will all be 
there if they are not very, very sick. So will every mother 
and every father. While every grandfather and grandmother 
within twenty miles will also attend. Let the exercises be 
very brief. 

12. Parents. Some schools have it. The reason for inviting 
the parents to Sunday-school on a special day is not more 
apparent than to have a special day for inviting the sons and 
daughters. They should be in Sunday-school every Sunday. 

13. Temperance. Have the exercises on the World's Temper- 
ance Sunday when the lesson is on temperance. With four 
lessons each year on the subject the opportunity may be found 
at any time. 

14. Easter. Celebrating the occasion of the resurrection 
of Jesus. 

15. Retmion. About the same as Rally Day. 

16. Enrollment. Day for the enlistment of new scholars. 

17. Old Folks. Same as Home Department. 

18. Harvest Home. A day of thanksgiving. 

19. Neio Year's. The looking forward day. 

20. Review. Every quarter. This will probably be changed 
soon so that review Sunday will come at the close of a subject 
studied. A good time for short written statements from the 
scholars on the life of the persons studied. 

21. Sunday-school. To emphasize the general Sunday-school 
work. A good opportunity to make the offering for it. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 37 

SECTION 11. —TEACHING. 

I. The Teacher Personally. 

The teacher himself counts for much more than either the 
subject-matter or the method, " as important as these two 
elements are in the ^york of teaching. The lessons from the 
teacher's life will make a lasting impression on the minds of 
the scholars. It is, therefore, very important that the right 
kind of teacher be placed in charge of the class. The im- 
portance increases in direct proportion to the youth of the 
scholars taught. Better have the classes too large, the 
grading defective and almost anything else the trouble with 
the school than to place in charge of the classes teachers w^hose 
lives point the wrong way. Better have no teacher at all 
than one whose life has a tendency to lead the scholars out 
of the paths of right. 

Taking for granted that the teacher in charge really loves 
God and wishes to be the best possible, a few suggestions are 
offered. 

1. Physical. Keeping late hours on Saturday night is not a 
good preparation for the work on Sunday. A heavy breakfast 
on Sunday morning is not calculated to give a clear brain and a 
sweet disposition for the teaching hours at nine-thirty. A sick, 
nervous, irritable teacher is not in the best physical condition 
to do the work of teaching a Sunday-school class. 

A restful Saturday evening, a good sound night of sleep, a 
light, wholesome breakfast, will often help as much as two or 
three hours of study ; and more if the study displaces the rest 
and early retirement. 

2. Mental. While Sunday-school teaching has to do with the 
culture of the heart rather than the intellect, there is an intel- 
lectual side to it. The following chapters will deal with the 
work of mental preparation. This paragraph has to do rather 
with certain mental conditions helpful to the work of the 



38 CONVENTION NOEMAL MANUAL. 

teacher. Let the teacher who would do the best work culti- 
vate the habits of 

(1) Study. Nothing will take its place. A few moments 
each day of good hard study is the essential basis for the 
work on Sunday. You cannot teach if you do not know. 
Piety alone is good, but piety and knowledge are far better. 

(2) Meditation. "While I was musing, the fire burned." 
David, Ps. 39 :3. So does it with the Sunday-school teacher. 
God rarely speaks his choicest messages to us when we are 
in the rush of business activities. Quietly think on the mes- 
sage of God as it comes through the lesson passage previously 
thoroughly studied ; your class will know the difference. 

(3) Cheerfulness. Sunshine is more attractive than gloom. 
It is contagious. Cultivate it. Smile whether you feel like it 
or not ; by and by you will feel like it. 

(4) Self control. It is one of the Christian graces. Every 
Sunday-school teacher needs it. That wild, restless boy or girl 
in your class tries your soul. You feel like giving up the 
whole business. Do not do it. He will come out all right. 
Peter was just as tough a case as any Sunday-school scholar 
you have, but the Master did not give him up even when he 
denied him and cursed and swore. Be patient. 

(5) Sympathy. So feel the heart throbs of your Sunday- 
school class as that no joy shall ever come to them but they 
will think of you. Let no sorrow come into the life of one of 
them but that you share it with them. It will give you such 
a hold on them as that one day, if they be not servants of 
God, when the Spirit knocks at the door he will find ready en- 
trance because the scholar has seen what religion has done for 
the teacher. 

3. Spiritual. Because the teacher is dealing with spiritual 
things and because the personality of the teacher counts for 
more than the method, the teacher needs spiritualifj^. 

(1) The meaning of it. That the teacher is a Christian is 
taken for granted. Spirituality comes to the person who 



Ag. 39 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHI 

retiches the place in bis Christian life when he is willing to 
let God have his way with the life. The Holj- Spirit uses 
only those who are willing to be used. 

(2) The necessity for it. The teacher is dealing with a 
text-book written under the direction of the Holy Spirit. He 
is its best interpreter. The Christian graces which should be 
in every teacher's life are the fruit of the Spirit. The teacher's 
aim is to win the lost to Jesus. Except they be born of the 
Spirit they cannot see the kingdom. The teacher's method is 
that of witnessing for Jesus. The power for witnessing comes 
with the coming of the Spirit into the life. 

(3) How obtained. A clean life, prayerful, willing to do 
God's will. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good 
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly 
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Luke 
11 :13. 

II. What a Teacher Should Know. 

1. Tlie Bible. And there is a lifetime task in that single 
word. Being a revelation from God, the Infinite, its messages 
have new meaning every morning. 

(1) Learn the names of the books and the general order 
in which they are arranged in the Bible. Witli this little 
library of sixtj^-six volumes all bound together, and in the 
hands of the teacher through all his lifetime, surely he ought 
to know where to find one when he wants to refer to it. 
So commonplace is this that it would seem to be hardly worth 
while to mention it, but many years of expedience indicate 
that it is worth while to say it. 

(2) The general contents of the books. This will be treated 
in this volume in its second section. 

(3) Bible History. The Bible is God's history of redemption. 
From the beginning of things in Genesis to the close of Reve- 
lation there is a thread of history running all through it. 
The teacher should have clearly in mind the great historical 



40 CONVENTIOIN' NORMAL MANUAL. 

periods. Each lesson fits into its place in the history. The 
text-books used in the section of the Normal Courses treating 
of the Bible afford to the teacher the opportunity to learn 
this feature of the Bible. 

(4) Bible Doctrines. A teacher should know what the 
Bible as a whole teaches about the great doctrines. 

(5) Bible Lands. Geography throws much light on history. 

(6) Antiquities. Customs were so different in the Bible 
days from our day and our country that some passages in the 
Bible are almost unintelligible unless we understand these 
customs. 

2. The Scholar. The teacher teaches truth and also teaches 
a person. The Bible is the text-book and should be known. 
The scholar is the one taught, and the teacher who does not 
know the scholar is but poorly prepared for teaching him. 

Not alone should the general characteristics of children, 
young men and women, and older men and women be known, 
but the individuals in the class should be known. 

(1) The general disposition of the scholar will often deter- 
mine either the subject matter or the method to be used in the 
teaching. 

(2) The surroundings, the influence at home, the daily com- 
panions, the surroundings in the workshop, these will often be 
a guide to the teacher in teaching. 

(3) The religious condition should be taken into account. 
If the scholar is not a Christian the teacher should know why. 
If a Christian, the peculiar needs should be studied that the 
teaching may know how to meet them. 

3. The Method. The teacher cannot teach without knowing 
how. Teaching is an art and may be learned just like any- 
thing else may be learned. 

(1) Study books on teaching. A half dozen of the best 
books will last a lifetime. Watch the periodicals for articles 
on teaching. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 4^ 

(2) Study other teachers. Occasionally go to a class taught 
by a master of the art of teaching. 

(3) Attend conventions, institutes and Sunday-school con- 
ferences and training schools. 

(4) Intelligent practice. The best, the quickest way to 
master any art is to practice with the right ideal ever before 
the mind. 

III. Gatheking Material. 

Four sources from v/hich the teacher may gather material 
for the construction of the lesson: 

1. Some general helps. 

(1) A good teacher's Bible. It is so called because it has 
in the back of it so many valuable things for the use of the 
teacher in the preparation of the lesson. 

(2) A good Old Testament history and New Testament 
history. 

(3) Bible Dictionary. 

(4) Concordance. 

(5) Commentary. 

(6) Special volumes. Such as a Life of Christ, Harmony of 
the Gospels, Life of Paul, lives of the various Bible characters 
whose lives are studied in connection with the lessons. 

2. Periodical lesson helps. The average teacher will hardly 
find use for more than three or four. Let them be the best. 

3. The lesson text. Here is the ripest field for material for 
the lesson. With the best general helps and with the best 
periodical helps to throw light on the text, the teacher should 
first of all thoroughly master the facts of the text itself. Find 
out what God says in the lesson. In addition to this learn 
certain facts about the text. As 

(1) Its location in the Bible. Of comparatively small im- 
portance this, but worth while. 

(2) Time at which the incidents took place. This will 
often throw a flood of light on the events recorded in the lesson. 
At other times the time element is not of special importance. 



42 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

(3) Connection, or Biblical setting. Many lessons are almost 
wholly unintelligible or very much misunderstood unless the 
things recorded just before and just after are made a part 
of the study. Often the lesson begins, "And after these things," 
or "About this time," "On the next day after," etc. Read 
what goes before each lesson and what comes after. 

(4) References. Every teacher's Bible has in the margin 
references to other scriptures. The Bible is' a good commen- 
tary on itself. See what it says in other places about the pas- 
sage under consideration. 

(5) Places mentioned. Locate them. 

(6) Persons mentioned in the lesson. In the back of the 
teacher's Bible, in the Subject Index, you will probably find 
many scriptures which, if studied, will give to you a bird's-eye 
view of the life of the person under consideration. If in your 
own library or in the library of the Sunday-school you have 
the volumes referred to above, make a study of the life of the 
person or persons mentioned in the lesson. 

Find out from all available sources the meaning of the words 
and expressions used in the text. 

Having mastered the facts of the text itself and the facts 
about the text, and having learned the meaning, the next step 
in the process of gathering material is to bring out from the 
text the teachings — the doctrines and duties. 

4. The Scholar's World, A fruitful source of material is the 
world of things lying closest to the scholar's life. This will be 
touched upon in a future lesson. 

IV. Planning the Lesson. 

After gathering the material, the teacher is not more ready 
to go before the class than is the builder ready to construct the 
house when lie has placed on the ground the material w^ith 
which he is to construct the building. Each must have a 
plan. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 43 

1. Tlie Purpose. ^Ybat is the use? Why not pitch in and 
teach if the material is at hand? 

(1) Better teaching can be done with a plan than without 
one. The human mind naturally works along certain lines. 
Things can be remembered better when placed in an orderly 
manner. 

(2) The teacher with a well thought out plan runs less 
risk of spending all of the time on the first part of the lesson 
to the neglect of the latter part. How often the expression i0 
heard, "I never have time to get over my lesson." When the 
real trouble is not the matter of time but the matter of prep- 
aration of the plan. Moses told the whole story of the creation 
of the heaven and the earth and the waters and all things 
that dwell therein, and told it in a few minutes. Perhaps thirty 
minutes might do if we had the plan well thought out. 

(3) It prevents being sidetracked with side issues and going 
off into irrelevant lines of teaching. Many questions will arise 
during the teaching period. Let the teacher decide beforehand 
how much time is to be given to such questions. Often a 
question of real importance will arise in the class which 
should be discussed. Let it come in, dispose of it and go on 
with the lesson. 

2. Things to 1)6 considered in constructing the plan. These 
are : 

(1) The material at hand. Too much to be used for one 
lesson. Select what is most appropriate ; sift out the material 
not needed. 

(2) The class. What in this particular lesson must be 
taught to the class? Much of the material good enough in itself 
would be very much unsuited to certain classes. 

(3) The illustrations. Of all the world of things around 
what is to be used to make clear to the class the truth which 
is to be taught? 

(4) The method to be used. This must be adapted to the 
class to be taught. 



44 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

One may readily see how the teacher is handicapped who is 
suddenly called upon to teach a class of which he knows 
nothing. 

3. Construction. The actual work of putting the material 
together may be considered under three points. Begin, teach, 
quit. 

(1) The Beginning. On this will depend much ol: 'the effi- 
ciency of the work for the period. A good beginning is almost 
half the battle. Vary the beginning. The method in this as 
in the other two items will be discussed in the lesson on 
"Covering the Lesson." 

(2) The Teaching. Arrange all of the things to be taught 
in their order. Decide before the beginning is made just how 
much time is to be given to each feature of the lesson. 

(3) The stopping point. Often the most interesting. Let it 
not frazzle out into thin air. Plan the last thing to be said 
before the beginning is made. Let it be some great central 
truth, if possible, driven home and clinched. 

V. Attention. 

Teaching is that process by which one causes another to 
know. About the first step in the actual teaching process is 
that of attracting the attention. 

1. What is Attention? Certain it is that it is not the mere 
act of looking at the teacher. The eyes may be focused in one 
place and the attention focused a thousand miles away. A 
homely, commonplace definition is this : The fixing of the 
mind on any given object. A sparrow flies into the room. 
The eye of the child fixes itself on it, the mind follows the 
eye. Attention is on the sparrow. You need not try to 
teach until it is gotten away. The child had a very pleasant 
visit to the home of a friend on Saturday. On Sunday, while 
the teacher is working his mouth, the mind of the scholar goes 
back over the incidents of the visit of the day before, all the 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 45 

^ybile having bis eyes fixed steadfastly on tlie teacher. Eyes 
on the teacher, attention on the visit. 

2. Varieties of Attention. 

(1) Voluntary. When the scholar by force of will fixes 
the mind on a given thing. Adults can sometimes do this. So 
rare is it, however, that it need not be considered in tjie 
matter of teaching. 

• (2) Involuntary. The kind of attention which fiits here and 
there with the shifting of the ©bject of interest. Every new 
sight and sound calls it from the lesson to itself. Governed 
not by the will but by the interest, it gives to the teacher the 
double task of holding in check the wanderings of the mind 
and of imparting instruction. 

3. Attracting and Holding Attention. 

(1) Remove Distractions. If the mind fiits with the pass- 
ing of every sight and sound, see to it that sights and sounds 
do not pass your way. There comes in the value of separate 
rooms. There is where the wandering pastor or superintendent, 
walking around the schoolroom, and in the goodness of his 
heart breaking into the classes, proves to be a nuisance — but per- 
haps a better word would be "disturbing element" — to the 
teacher. The light, the heat, or the absence of it, noises, 
the seats, ventilation, all these enter into the matter of 
attention. 

(2) Speak in such a tone as that all the members of the 
class can easily hear and so that nobody else can. A scholar 
will not attend to teaching which he cannot hear. But if the 
teacher over in the corner is speaking so as to be heard two 
blocks away, he is imposing an unnecessary burden on all of 
the other teachers in the building. 

3. A call for attention will sometimes arrest it temporarily. 
Do not make the call for attention unless there is something 
worth while to accompany that call. 

4. Interest is by far the best thing to which to appeal for 
attention. There are certain inherent interests common to prac- 



46 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

tically all persons. Such as the name by which one is known. 
Call the name of a scholar and it matters not where his mind 
may be, it will retm-n. Everybody is interested in home and 
the things around home. Most people are interested in jour- 
neys, discoveries, pets, doing things, making things, seeing 
things made, etc. 

Any new thing will catch the attention. Nature, objects, 
pictures, movement of any kind, a good story, anything out of 
the ordinary — all of these have an interest. Use them. Only 
use them for purposes of teaching, not for mere entertainment. 

Find out the things which interest your scholars. Wrap 
up the truth in these things. Tell it with some movement in 
the story. And your scholars will attend to what you have 
to teach. 

VI. The Question as a Factor in Teaching. 

If a question be asked and the scholar answer it, the teacher, 
strictly speaking, has not taught that scholar. One cannot 
teach another what another already knows. If the scholar 
does not know the answer, the asking the question does not 
give him the knowledge. Which leads to the question 

1. Why asJc questions^ Why not tell the scholar what is to 
be taught him without the seemingly unnecessary preface 
of the question? 

(1) The first reason is that which actuated the asking 
of the question last asked above, namely : to provoke thought. 
A wise question often sets the scholar to thinking, wakes up 
his attention. This prepares the mind for the truth to be 
presented. When it goes in, it is more likely to stick than if 
presented without first provoking thought. Unless the scholar 
does some thinking, the teacher will do no teaching. 

(2) To strengthen the knowledge of the scholar. If the 
scholar knows the answer and gives it, he knows it more 
thoroughly than if the teacher had told him what the scholar 
already knew. Repetition ' strengthens knowledge. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 47 

(3) To test the scholar's knowledge. The teacher can teach 
only \Yhat the scholar does not know. A question will reveal 
the scholar's knowledge or lack of it and thus give to the 
teacher the information necessary to begin the teaching at the 
right place. 

(4) To test the teacher's work. Having told the scholar 
something, the teacher does not know whether he has been 
teaching or merely talking. A question will bring the test. 
If the scholar has been taught 'he knows the thing taught. 
If he knows it he can tell it. 

2. Who should ask questions f Both the teacher and the 
scholar. But not all teachers need ask questions ; neither all 
scholars. There are classes of timid adults who are very much 
afraid that if a question is asked it might expose their ignor- 
ance. If it be preferred that they keep their ignorance rather 
tlian tlie information which would result from an exposure 
of it, the teacher must respect their wishes. 

The teacher whose teaching never provokes a question from 
the scholar should look into the matter and examine himself 
and study the class. There may be a feeling of restraint 
existing ; perhaps the class cares not for the teaching. What- 
ever be the trouble, seek to remove it. 

3. How to asJv questions. A few suggestions : 

(1) Make your own questions. Know first of all what you 
are going to teach. Ask your scholar to tell you instead of 
you telling the scholar. That is the secret of it. 

(2) Sometimes aslv general questions and sometimes direct 
the question to some individual. A general question will 
sometimes put the whole class to thinking. But if only general 
questions are asked, the more timid ones of the class will 
be deprived of taking a personal part in the work. 

(3) In classes of small children and sometimes of larger 
ones, it is well to ask the question before calling the name of 
the one to answer. This will help to hold the attention of all 
until the answer is given. 



48 CONVENTION NOEMAL MANUAL. 

(4) Avoid rotation in questioning. Never let any scholar 
know who is to get the next question. 

(5) Let *the question be so clear that only one possible cor- 
rect answer may be given. 

(6) Make the question as short as will be consistent with 
clearness. 

(7) Ask the question in such a way as to bring out the fact 
asked for ; not the mere assent to the fact stated by the teacher 
in asking the question. 

(8) Study variety in the matter of questioning. Adjust the 
question to the capacity of the scholar. 

(9) It is well in preparing questions to be answered by the 
class in concert to so frame them as that they may be an- 
swered by only one or two words. 

(10) The elliptical form of question may be used. The 
teacher having told the lesson story, repeats it, leaving part of 
it to be supplied by the scholar. As an example, the teacher 
has told the scholars that Jesus entered into a boat. He 
repeats, "Jesus entered into — " and stopping short there the 
scholar supplies the word "boat." 

(11) Sometimes state a question without expecting an an- 
swer. Read the Sermon on the Mount for examples of this 
kind of questioning. 

VII. Planting the Tkuth. 

1. How tve learn. The mind having its seat in the brain has 
access to the outer world through five avenues called senses. 
The physical side of it is about as follows : A word is spoken. 
The waves of the air strike the ear drum. The nerve con- 
necting the ear drum and the brain receives a shock. There is 
a miniature brain agitation. The mind opens its eye and takes 
a look to see what is the trouble. If the mind has previously 
learned the meaning of the word, a picture is painted on the 
^lind and the mind has learned something — provided the per- 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 49 

son speaking says something about the word not before known 
to the person hearing. 

A religious trutli cannot be acted upon with any one of the 
five senses. Hence the necessity of first translating the trutli 
into some kind of symbol which can be acted upon by one of 
the five senses. 

2. The symbols of communication, 

(1) Words. The teacher must translate the thought into 
words before the thought is available for use by the learner. 
These words may be spoken ; in which case the appeal is 
made to the sense of hearing. They may be placed on a 
blackboard or chart ; in which case the appeal is made to tlie 
sense of sight. 

(2) Pictures. There are two distinct varieties with a mul- 
titude of shades of variation lying between. The finished artis- 
tic picture on the one hand and the simple mark which is made 
to represent something on the other are the two varieties. 
There are advantages in the use of both kinds of pictiire. While 
the artistic picture gives to the scholar a more elaborate and 
a truer (provided the picture be true to the facts) represen- 
tation of the truth to be taught ; the rough blackboard sketch 
made in the presence of the class gives the added advantage 
of riveting the attention while the work is going on. Hardly 
anything short of the cry of "fire!" would divert the attention 
of the scholar from the blackboard where a picture, however 
rude and simple, is being drawm by the teacher. 

In attempting to use the blackboard it is not necessary to 
draw a picture. Make some marks. Name them something. 
Have a care to do the work rapidly, so as not to attract atten- 
tion to the drawing ; make it simple and let it be expressive. 

(3) Objects. Instead of drawing a straight line on the 
blackboard and calling it a man, take a wooden stick and call 
it a man. There you have the beginning of the object-teaching. 
With an object the teacher has the appeal to three of the 
five senses — sight, hearing and touch. At one time a teacher 

4 



50 CONTENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

with a small class took a bottle of perfume and allowed each 
scholar to handle it; pouring it on several handkerchiefs, they 
were waved about the room — the scholars saw it done ; the 
fragrance of it filled the room ; the teacher told that thus did 
the Holy Spirit fill the room on the day of Pentecost. 

The scholars exercised the sense of hearing, seeing, touching 
and smelling. It is hardly probable that any one of them 
failed to retain the lesson. 

(4) Sign language. Gestures. Facial expression. These 
making the appeal to the eye, will often serve as symbols of 
communication. 

3. So77ie Laivs of Teaching. Growing out of the preceding dis- 
cussion a few laws of teaching are here briefly stated. 

(1) Use words understood by the scholar. 

(2) Teach slowly. It takes time to create an idea in the 
average mind in such a way as to make it stick. 

(3) Yar^^ the medium of communication. Use the ear and 
eye both. 

(4) Repeat, review. One stroke on the brain may not make 
the dent deep enough to last. The chorus of the song is the 
best known part because it is repeated most often. 

(5) Group the material of the lesson so as to fit the laws 
of the mind. After telling the lesson story then group the 
material in such a way as that all of the lesson bearing upon 
any one great teaching may be presented together. 

(6) Perhaps three-fourths to nine-tenths of the things we 
know in the w^orld have come to us through the eye. Let the 
Sunday-school teacher learn a lesson from this and make large 
use of the eye. 

(7) Test the work. Your scholar may not have heard or 
seen ; he may have misunderstood ; your words may have gone 
in so rapidly that no clear idea was left behind. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. ^\ 

VIII. Making Truth Clear. 

Illustrate means to throw light upon, to make clear. An 
idea going into the mind is often but dimly seen and yet more 
dimly understood. The use of illustrations is to make the truth 
taught become clear and bright so that it may be seen by the 
scholar. 

The teacher ^Yho shows pictures, who makes all sorts of 
queer marks on a blackboard or who tells a story in the class 
simply for purposes of entertainment, has missed the pur- 
pose of the use of illustrations. Illustrations, however pleas- 
ing, are not to be used in the Sunday-school class merely for 
purposes of entertainment nor for filling in the time. Every 
good picture, whether on paper, blackboard or told as a story, 
must have some "point" to it if it is to be considered an illus- 
tration. 

1. Soiaxes. Illustrations may be found in all the heavens 
and the earth. All literature abounds with them. The Bible 
is an unfailing source of supply. 

(1) Be on the lookout for illustrations constantly. A little 
interleaved lesson help with the lessons for a year will be 
of help in preserving illustrations for future use. In reading, 
keep on the lookout for good ones. In the course of daily con- 
versation, in the daily rounds of life, they will come if we but 
keep the eyes open for them. 

(2) Use most often those most familiar to the person to be 
taught. The scholar learns best by beginning with the things 
with which he is most familiar and proceeding to the things 
unknown. Hence those things known best should be given 
precedence in the matter of illustration. The more homely the 
better. Jesus talked of the grass, sheep, lights, birds, fishes, 
seeds, salt, bread, water, doors and a hundred other things lying 
closest around the pathway of those whom he taught. 

2. The Method. 

(1) In the appeal to the eye illustrations may be used by 



52 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

the use of the blackboard, pictures, objects, etc., which things 
were briefly mentioned in the preceding lesson. 

(2) When the appeal is made through the ear it may be 
through : 

a. The metaphor. "Ye are the salt of the earth," said the 
Master. And a world of truth was wrapped up in it. 

Z>. The simile. Which show^s the comparison of some thing 
with another. "The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a mus- 
tard seed," etc. So may the teacher find a world of things 
"like unto" things in the kingdom. 

c. The story. Who masters the art of telling a story has 
gone far on the road to success as a good teacher. A story well 
told catches and holds the attention at the same time that it 
illustrates. 

A little intelligent practice will soon enable almost any 
teacher to become a good story teller. Having the main facts 
of the story in mind clothe them with flesh and blood through 
the imagination. Let the events be real to you. Let the 
people be real people. The story must have movement, repe- 
tition, unity, a climax, or maybe two or three, and an outcome. 
If it is well told and has a good* moral or "point" running all 
through it no application need be made even with the smallest 
children. It is pleasing to let the scholar discover the point 
of application for himself. 

Never let the story be so elaborate as to obscure the truth 
to be taught. There is danger here. Let the truths of the les- 
son be the things taken away by the scholar. The illustration 
is only to make that truth clear. 

IX. Covering the Lesson. 

The task of the teacher on Sunday is to teach the lesson. One 
of the common faults is that of teaching the first part or per- 
haps some special points of the lesson and leaving all of the 
rest of it. 

1. What is the lesson? It is a link in the chain. As has 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 53 

been stated, every lesson is a part of a course or subject of 
study. As these lessons are being written the subject of the 
International Lesson System is "Studies in the Acts and 
Epistles." The incident of "Stephen the First Christian Mar- 
tyr" is one of the lessons in this subject. It is noted that the 
lesson covers seventy-eight verses of scripture, being the whole 
of the sixth and seventh chapters and three verses from the 
eighth. But the part to be printed in the lesson help consists 
of only eighteen verses. This is often true. Let no teacher 
forget that in covering the lesson about Stephen (for an exam- 
ple), according to the present arrangement there is but one Sun- 
day with perhaps thirty minutes of time to teach the life history 
of Stephen. This opportunity will return no more for six 
years. Make the most of it. Hold to the main line ; keep off 
the side tracks ; cover the lesson. 

2. The Three Steps in Covering the Lesson, 

(1) The Approach or Introduction. How to begin is an 
important consideration. Some one of th.e following methods 
may be used : 

a. Read the lesson over, or have some member of the 
class to do it. 

1). Begin with last Sunday's lesson and pick up the con- 
necting threads. Or perhaps state some striking event which 
had^ taken place between last Sunday's lesson and that of today. 

c. Give the historic setting. 

d. Start with the place and its surroundings. 

e. Ask a question. 

f. Tell a story illustrative of the lesson or some teaching 
of it. 

g. Exhibit an object or picture. 

h. Start right into the middle of the story after the manner 
of the newspaper reporter. 

These with others which may be thought of will give some 
hint as to possible ways to begin. 

(2) The Presentation of the Lesson Itself. Remembering 



54 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

that there are three things in each lesson to be taught, namely: 
the facts, the meaning and the teachings, there are two general 
methods of doing it. 

The first of these is to take up a single verse or paragraph 
and bring out the facts contained therein, then take up the 
meaning and the teachings. Having thus treated this verse 
or paragraph, go to the next and continue thus throughout 
the lesson. 

The other method is to go over all of the facts first as the 
basis. Then take up the things in the lesson which need to 
be explained. Having gone carefully into all matters needing 
explanation, pick out the main teachings of the lesson and 
discuss them until the close of the teaching period. 

(3) The Conclusion. 

a. Stop on time. 

Z). Briefly sum up the general teachings of the lesson. 

c. Give a preview^ of the next Sunday's lesson, enough to 
create interest and give a thirst for a deeper knowledge of it. 

d. Make the application to the life of to-day. 

Some one of the above may be used as a conclusion. 

X. Reviewing the Lessons. 

1. Meaning of Review. It is not a restudy of the lessons 
for the quarter so much as it is a looking at the lessons from 
a different point of view. Not a look at the immediate objects 
of study w^hich have made up the thirteen lessons for the 
quarter, but a look at the general subject studied. 

2. Reasons for Reviciv. 

(1) It is an incentive to study both on the part of the 
teacher and of the scholar. If it be known that all of the 
work gone over is to be looked at as a w^hole at a later period 
it will be some incentive to more careful work while the work 
is being done. 

(2) Repetition of the broad general outlines of the work 
is necessary to fix it in the mind. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHING. 55 

(3) A \Yhole-view of the subject is needed to give to the 
teaching the right perspective. 

(4) To test the work gone over. 

3. Time for Review. 

(1) Every Sunday. Review the lesson for that Sunday and 
for some lessons past. 

(2) At the end of every convenient stopping place review. 
As the lesson system is at present arranged the review Sun- 
days are arbitrarily fixed every thirteenth Sunday without re- 
gard to the place reached in any given subject. The reviews 
falling near the close of March, June, September and Decem- 
ber may fall in the midst, of a subject or just two or three 
lessons from the natural place to review. This will probably 
be changed before many years so that the review periods set 
apart for that purpose will come at the close of the study of a 
subject. The teacher can do that anyhow. 

(3) At the close of a great subject look at it again. In the 
Studies in the Acts of the Apostles we might find several 
convenient stopping places for a review. As for example take 
two main divisions : The Beginnings Under Peter, Stephen 
and Philip. If the review had been placed on April 11 instead 
of March 21 it would have taken in all of this period. Then 
the second division : Life and Labors of Paul. We might 
study his Conversion, his First Missionary Journey, Second 
Missionary Journey, Third Missionary Journey and Prison 
Life — five general topics. It will be noted that the Lesson 
Committee has given five lessons covering the Second Mis- 
sionary Journey. Ha\ing completed these five lessons we 
have a convenient place to spend a little while in looking back- 
ward. 

4. Methods of Revieto. The review may be conducted either 
from the platform before the whole school, or in the classes, 
or in both places. However, it may be done and hj whom- 
soever it may be done, the preparation for it should be thorough. 

(1) Tell the story of the whole subject in broad outline; one 



56 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

person doing all of the talking and carefully going over the 
whole for the benefit of the Avhole class or school. 

(2) Assign beforehand certain lessons to individuals, or if a 
public review, to certain classes, and then hold that class 
responsible for any question asked about that particular lesson. 

(3) Assign specific phases of the work to various individuals 
to tell on review Sunday; as the geography for the period to 
one, and the life story of the persons to another ; to still 
another the subjects of the lessons for the period, etc. 

(4) Miscellaneous questioning. Ask anybody any question 
about any lesson. 

(5) With large pictures hanging up around the room bring 
out the story of the period by studying the persons or events 
pictured. 

(6) With blackboard sketches the subject for the period 
may be presented. 

(7) The picture guess review is used in schools sometimes. 
On a blackboard draw a picture frame; or perhaps better pro- 
vide a frame with a piece of white paper in it. Tell the 
scholars what you see in the picture and have them guess 
what it is. 

(8) The written review is quite popular in well organized 
schools which are prepared for it. Questions provided for this 
purpose may be had of the houses furnishing Sunday-school 
supplies. 



SECTION III.— HISTORY. 

The feature of Sunday-school work which makes it different 
from the other services of the church is that the greater empha- 
sis is given to teaching. As in the preaching service, the prayer 
meeting and all other of the regular services of the church, prg.yer 
and praise have a place. The worship also includes an offering. 
In the preaching service, preaching is the central idea ; in the 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 57 

prayer meeting, prayer is the central idea ; so in the Sunday- 
school, teaching is the central idea. 

Hence it is that the history of the Sunday-school would include 
the history of the teaching of religious truth. From the very 
nature of the case, in a volume of this size it will be possible to 
mention very briefly only a few instances of this kind of work. 

I. In Bible Times. 

1. In the Old Testament are many examples as well as com- 
mands to teach. Hear Moses as he tells the people of Israel 
what the Lord told him to do : "And Jehovah commanded me 
at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might 
do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it." Deut. 
4: 14. 

And again in Deut. 6:1: "Now this is the commandment, 
the statutes, and the ordinances which Jehovah your God com- 
manded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither 
ye go over to possess it." And the Lord again conamanded 
Moses to teach something else besides statutes and ordinances. 
Deut. 31 : 19 : "Now therefore write ye this song for you, and 
teach thou it to the children of Israel." 

Aaron was commissioned of Jehovah to be a teacher: "And 
Jehovah spake unto Aaron saying, . . . teach the children 
of Israel all the statutes which Jehovah hath spoken unto 
Moses." Lev. 10: 8-11. 

Samuel was one of the great teachers of history. He tells 
his people, "I will insti-uct you in the good and the right way." 
1 Sam. 12: 23. 

When Jehoshaphat went on the throne of Judah he found a 
condition of affairs which demanded immediate attention. His 
people had wandered off into heathenism. The method which 
he used to counteract this was the method which has proven 
most effective through all the centuries. He sent out teachers, 
the names of sixteen of whom are given (2 Chron. 17: 7-9), 
"and they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of Jeho- 



58 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL, 

vah witli them ; and tliey ^yent about throughout all the cities 
of Judah, and taught among the people." 

Ezra was a teacher of righteousness. He "had set his heart 
to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it, andTto teach in Israel 
statutes and ordinances." Ezra 7: 10. How well he suc- 
ceeded in his purpose we are told in Neh. 8 : 1-8. He gathered 
men, women and "all that could hear with understanding" and 
with the aid of a number of helpers "they read in the book, in 
the law of God, distinctly ; and they gave the sense, so that 
they understood the reading." 

2. In the New Testament times the synagogue was in all the 
cities and towns of the land. It was the Jewish place both of 
worship and of instruction. Let us look at it as a place of 
instruction. 

The classes were usually graded, according to age, into three 
departments : 

(1) The primary grade (ages five to ten) memorized certain 
portions of the Scriptures. 

(2) The intermediate grade (ages ten to fifteen) studied the 
scripture text, togetl^er with the comments on it, by the Jewish 
rabbis. 

(3) The adult grade (persons more than fifteen years of age) 
took part in the discussion of the almost numberless theological 
problems of the day. 

When Jesus began his ministry he gave teaching a large 
place in it. One cannot read the New Testament without being 
struck with the fact that instruction forms a large place in the 
establishment of the Kingdom of God in the world. Over and 
over again is the statement made that he went about "teaching 
in their synagogues." He went up on the mountain Avith his 
disciples and "he opened his mouth and taught them." Some 
preacher long years afterward labeled this lesson to the disci- 
ples "The Sermon on the iNIount," and tried to leave the impres- 
sion that Jesus was preaching on this occasion, but it is alto- 
gether probable that Matthew gave it correctly when he said 
that Jesus was teaching 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. ' 59 

Which raises the question, What is the clifference bet\yeen 
teaching and preaching? The line cannot be clearly drawn. 
But the difference is this : teaching is imparting instruction, 
preaching is the making of a proclamation. Often the very best 
of preaching has not one element of teaching in it ; because it 
is the announcement of certain truth well known to every 
hearer. Jesus was both teacher and preacher. See Matt. 4 : 23. 

One of his last commandos to his followers was that they be 
teachers. Matt. 28 : 19, 20. 

The apostles took him at his word and did this kind of work. 
"And every day, in the temple and at home, they ceased not to 
teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ." Acts 5 : 42, 

The New Testament churches had teachers as well as preach- 
ers in them. Acts 13 : 1. And in other places there is refer- 
ence to the church officers as being "pastors, evangelists, 
teachers," 

II. The Catechetical School. 

The early churches during the days after the apostles prac- 
tically all had provision for instruction in the truths of Chris- 
tianity. It was deemed unwise to win a large number of 
converts to Christianity and take them into the churches w^ith- 
out some kind of oversight being exercised other than the hear- 
ing of an occasional sermon. And, too, it was soon found that 
the best, easiest, most effective method of reaching the heathen 
was through instruction first and proclamation afterward — 
the same methods used by Jesus and the apostles. 

Consequently the churches had two services, the public wor- 
hip service in which preaching held the prominent place and the 
Catechetical School in which teaching was the central idea. 

The original purpose in the Catechetical School w^as to afford 
instruction to such heathen men, women and children as could 
be induced to receive the instruction, preparatory to their full 
membership in the churches. It soon came to be a great power 



60 ' CONVENTION NOEMAL MANUAL. 

Id the evangelization of the world. Some of the very strongest 
men and Avomen of the age were teachers in these schools. It 
was the right arm of power in the winning of the heathen 
world to Christ. 

So prominent a place did it occupy in the work of the early 
churches that in the buildings erected, a place was almost 
always provided for the sessions of this school. Its students 
w^ere divided into grades practically as i« the modern Sunday- 
school. There were men, women and children receiving the 
instruction ; while the teachers w^ere both men and women ; 
preachers as well as laymen taking part. The subject-matter 
taught was the story of the Old and New Testaments ; a general 
view of the doctrinal teachings of the Bible and the constitution 
of the church. The time occupied for the full round of instruc- 
tion was from a few weeks in some of the schools to three full 
years in others. 

The method of the early missionaries when entering a new 
field was to go with force enough to establish a Catechetical 
School in every community throughout the territory to be cov- 
ered and give the first emphasis to teaching, with special refer- 
ence to the children, always easily accessible, always ready to 
learn. It can be easily seen that by systematic work of this 
kind for one generation the whole religious status of a country 
could be changed in a single generation. That is what took 
place many times. Evangelism by means of the teacher was 
the method of the early centuries. 

By a gradual process of degeneration the priest came to be 
the more prominent factor in the churches. Gradually the 
ritual and the confessional took the place of the teacher with 
the open word of God. A ritual may be a help to the "enrich- 
ment of the service" for Christian people, but the history of the 
world goes to show that it is an exceedingly poor arrangement 
for reaching the heart of the unconverted person. With the 
passing of the teacher and the coming in of the dead formalism 
which developed into full-fledged Romanism there came a stag- 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. g]_ 

nation in the Christian Avorld and a gloom as of the bhickness 
Of midnight settled doAvn over Europe. A thousand j^ears 
dragged sloAvly by awaiting the coming of an apostle of the 
open Bible. 

III. Some Fokerunxees of the Modern Sunday School. 

Through all the years there were people here and there who, 
in given localities, taught the Scriptures. There were many 
Sunday-schools which lived for a few years, did some good, and 
died with the founder. Others lived for a generation or two 
and then fell on sleep. Of such individual attempts it will not 
be possible in the limits of this book to write. Only a few of 
the general movements will be noted. 

1. The Waldenses originated by reason of the fact that under 
the leadership of Peter Waldo in the latter part of the twelfth 
century a number of peasants secured the word of God in their 
o^Ti tongue and commenced its study. In the mountains of 
north Italy they have withstood the attacks of Rome for five 
centuries and are still a prosperous and happy people. 

2. Under Martin Luther a system of instruction in the cate- 
chism was instituted in the first half of the sixteenth century. 
In the year 1520 he prepared his shorter catechism and estab- 
lished schools all over Germany. In 1529 this was followed 
by a larger one. His catechism treats of the Ten Command- 
ments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, Baptism, and the 
Lord's Supper. His schools did as much to win Germany to the 
Reformation as did his preaching. The Reformation was 
sweeping over all Europe with tremendous rapidity until the 
Romanists established a similar system of schools in all South- 
ern Europe, and there the Reformation was checked, and has 
gained little headway since. 

3. The Reformed churches took up the work ; John Calvin 
putting out his catechism and schools, on the same plan as 
Luther, in 153G. His catechism was extensively used in Switz- 
erland, France, England, Scotland, Hungary, The Netherlands, 



Q2 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

and in the latter part of the sixteenth century was a text-book 
in the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, England. 

The Heidelberg catechism, compiled by Casper Olevianns and 
Zacharias Ur sinus, was issued in 15G2, and was used extensively. 

4. The Church of England commenced its work in 1536. Being 
a sti'ong, ^A'ell-organized body, it exerted a strong influence, 
and its work was widely adopted and quite extensively used. 

5. The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Assembly was 
issued in 1647 and the Larger Catechism in 1648. What influ- 
ence the Shorter Catechism has had in the development of 
sturdy Christian character may be seen today in the lives of 
millions of Presbyterians in all parts of the w^orld. 

6. The Methodist Societies took up the w^ork of teaching long 
before they had developed into a church. As early as 1737 they 
had commenced the w^ork. 

7. The Baptists of America were engaged in a similar work 
in and around Philadelphia before the year 1738. They pro- 
^'ided for schools of instruction with the use of the catechism, 
and had reports on the work in the Philadelphia Association. 

IV. William Fox and His Movement. 

All of the movements above mentioned helped to make pos- 
sible the modern Sunday-school movement. But not one of the 
efforts above named reached beyond the organization introduc- 
ing it, and not one could in any sense be termed a world move- 
ment. Neither were they Sunday-schools as we now understand 
that tei-m. The modern Sunday-school movement was made 
possible by William Fox, a deacon of the Prescott Street Baptist 
Church in London. 

The credit for the beginning of the movement has generally 
been given to Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, England. It may 
be Avell, therefore, to study briefly what part he had in the 
beginnings of the modern movement. Robert Raikes was born 
September 14, 1736. In the month of July, 1780, he gathered .a 
number of boys into the home of INIr. and' Mrs. King, on St. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. g3 

Catherine Street, in Gloucester, and organized tliein into a 
school. He paid four teachers to give them instruction in read- 
ing, writing, arithmetic and spelling. He always refers to his 
work in his letters as his "attempts at civilization.'' The Bible 
was not the text-book. In 1783 he published an account of his 
school. His school Avas a reform school taught on Sunday. 
It resulted in the establishment of some free public schools in 
England some years later. His school never developed into a 
movement. It died with his death, and was forgotten in the 
town of its birth by everybody except some who had attended 
it. Xo organization was ever formed to push it. Perhaps as 
many as a dozen schools like it sprang up and lived a few years 
and died. 

Robert Raikes was a good man ; he did a splendid work ; he 
deserves a place among the men of the world who have done 
things worthy of note. But had it not been for a man of far- 
seeing vision and with the love of the word of God burning in 
his soul the work Avhich Raikes did would have remained for- 
gotten, as has been the work of many another equally as worthy. 

AYilliam Fox was born February 14, 1736, at Clapton, in the 
county of Gloucester. He united with the Baptist church at 
Bourton-on-the- Water near his home, in which church his father 
was an honored deacon. In 1764 ne moved to London, where he 
was first a retail merchant and later a wholesale dealer. He 
became very wealthy. Before Robert Raikes had made public 
the facts about his school. Fox purchased the old home estate at 
Clapton, and there started his first school with the Bible as the 
text-book. .He employed teachers, and gathering the scholars 
together with the Bible as the text-book, he commenced his 
work. His school met on week days. 

In May, 1785, at the Baptist Monthly Meeting h.eld at the 
King's Head Tavern, London, Fox introduced a resolution asking 
that the meeting call upon the various denominations of England 
to unite in the organization of a society for the promotion of 
Bible study among the children of England. The call w^as issued. 



g4 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

The society was organized September 7, 1785. While the matter 
was being discussed Mr. Fox heard for the first time of the work 
of Mr. Raikes. He wrote Mr. Raikes ; afterward visited him. 
It gave to him the idea that he might be able to use Sunday for 
his plan. So when the Society was organized on September 7th, 
the plan for having the schools held during the week was aban- 
doned and Sunday was selected as the day. September 7, 1785, 
is the date for the real beginning of the modern Sunday-school 
work as an organized movement. From that time the Sunday- 
school work spread with rapidity to all parts of the United 
Kingdom. Two years later (1787) Fox closed up his business 
and devoted himself to advancing the Sunday-school cause of 
Great Britain, and was for forty years England's most prom- 
inent Sunday-school man. Together with William Brodie 
Gurney he did more to make the modern Sunday-school move- 
ment than any man of his day. 

One thing made his movement less effective than it otherwise 
would have been — he adopted xthe policy of paying the teachers 
for their work. A new day was not far off, when this would 
be changed and a new era ushered in with a still greater advance 
along Sunday-school lines. 

V. Oeganizing the Forces. 

No movement has ever attained to great proportions without 
some kind of organization back of it. The organization of 
William Fox was the first to place the Sunday-school before the 
world as a movement. But the work of William Brodie Gurney 
still further made the Sunday-school popular. Gurney was 
born in 1777 in Camberwell, England, a suburb of London. In 
his early life he watched with interest the Sunday-school work 
as it was promoted by Fox and his associates. He saw a better 
way. He offered to give his services to the Sunday-school as a 
teacher. He called on others to volunteer for this work. He 
became the apostle of the voluntary idea in Sunday-school work. 
At his call the London Sunday School Union was organized in 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. g5 

July, 1803. It was organized for the purpose of promoting the 
voluntary idea. Organizers were sent out and the Sunday- 
school movement commenced in real earnest. 

This movement soon spread to America. In every city along 
the Atlantic seaboard and in many of the large towns of the 
interior Sunday School Unions were organized. As early as 
1791 The First Day or Sunday School Society had been organ- 
ized in Philadelphia on the general plan advocated by Fox. But 
the local unions springing up in the cities soon took the place of 
the societies organized for the purpose of paying teachers for 
the Sundaj^-school. 

These local unions organized a national union in 1824 called 
the American Sunday School Union, with headquarters in Phil- 
adelphia. This was for many years the leading factor in the 
Sunday-school progress of America, and is still doing a good 
work. 

The progress of the Sunday-school made a demand for Bibles. 
The supply was inadequate. To meet the demand made by the 
Sunday-school for the word of God there was organized in 
London in 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society. The 
American Bible Society was organized in 1825. Many local 
societies sprang up as auxiliary to these two parent societies. 

It was early seen that the teachers needed some help in the 
study and teaching of the Bible. The printed page was called in 
to supplement the lesson text, and so organizations arose to 
supply this demand. Tlie Religious Tract Society of London 
was organized in 1799. The Sunday-school had for fourteen 
years been gaining headwaj', and the demand for the printed 
page was such that something had to be done to supply the 
demand. Following the leadership of The British and Foreign 
Bible Society, The American Bible Society, The Religious Tract 
Society, and The American Tract Society, a large number of 
Societies, individuals, and denominational agencies entered the 
field to supply printed helps for the use of the Sunday-school. 



gg CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

yi. The International Sunday School Association. 

Of all of the interdenominational attempts to improve the 
Sunday-school condition the one most widespread and doing the 
most effective work is the International Sunday School Associa- 
tion. 

As a result of a call from the American Sunday School Union, 
a number of friends of the Sunday-school movement met in 
Pliiladelphia May 23, 1832, and organized a National Sunday 
School Convention, the first formal session of which was held in 
New York, beginning October 3, 1832. The next national con- 
vention was held in Philadelphia the following May. It was 
nearly twenty-six years before another was held, the third ses- 
sion being in Philadelphia, February 22-24, 1859. 

The real work of the convention was begun in the session in 
Newark, New Jersey, when the fourth session of the convention 
was held, beginning on April 28, 1869. Since that time the 
Sunday-school workers have met in annual session every three 
years. 

In the session held at Baltimore, May 11-13, 1875, representa- 
tives from Canada were admitted to the convention and the 
name was changed from National to International. At Toronto, 
Canada, June, 1905, the name was changed from International 
Sunday School Convention to The International Sunday-school 
Association. 

This association is made up not of churches nor of Sunday- 
schools, but of individuals who wish to cooperate with the asso- 
ciation. Its work is twofold. Through its Lesson Committee 
the International Lessons are selected and recommended to the 
various publishing houses. Through its Executive Committee, 
in cooperation with the various State Sunday-school Associa- 
tions, a number of conventions are held throughout the continent 
of North America. The effort is made to place a convention 
within reach of every Sunday-school worker in America at 
least once each year. 

The purposes of the association were set forth in a resolution 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. g7 

offered by E. Y. Mullins, President of the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, and unanimously adopted by the Asso- 
ciation in the meeting in Louisville, Ky., June, 1908. The 
resolution is as follows : 

Resolved, That the work of the International Sunday School 
Association may be defined as follows : 

First — It seeks to enlist all Sunday-schools in the common 
study of the lesson, but never to organize schools. 

Second — It seeks to enlist all Sunday-schools in the adoption 
of the best methods of promoting efficiency in the work of 
teacher training. 

Third — It seeks in all proper ways to enlist theological sem- 
inaries to the extent of giving due recognition to the Sunday- 
school in their curriculum. 

Fourth — It disclaims all creed-making power, and the sole 
function of its Lesson Committee is to select topic, the Scripture 
and the golden text, leaving interpretation of the Scripture to 
the various denominations. 

Fifth — It disclaims all authority over the churches and 
denominations. 

Sixth — It disclaims all legislative functions, save within its 
own sphere and for its own proper ends. 

Seventh — The work it seeks to do is confined to the common 
ground occupied by all the various denominations cooperating 
with it. a ground which these bodies have found can best be 
occupied through this common organization. The common 
ground and interests are chiefly as follows : 

(a) A uniform lesson system, graded or otherwise. 

(b) The propagation of the best methods and ideals in Sun- 
day-school pedagogy. 

(c) The promotion in all proper ways of teacher-training. 

(d) The promotion of all Sunday-school life and progress 
through inspirational conventions and associations for the 
use and benefit of all the denominations. 

Eighth — The Association recognizes that in many of the 
above lines of activity the various denominations prosecute 
plans and methods of their own. In all such cases the Inter- 
national Association seeks not to hinder or trespass, but to 
help. In short, it offers itself as the willing servant of all for 
Jesus' sake. It seeks to be a clearing-house of the best methods 
and best plans in the Sunday-school world. Above all, it seeks 



gg CONVENTIOTv^ NORMAL MANUAL. 

to be the means of extending a knowledge of the Bible, the 
inspired Word of God, through the Sunday-school to the whole 
world. 

YII. The Lesson System — 1. 

Perhaps at this writing thirty millions of persons study each 
Sunday the same Scripture lesson. To know how this state of 
affairs came about, and to know the plan on which the lessons 
are selected and how they are selected, is worthy of our study. 

1. The early efforts. As we have seen, the Sunday-school 
movement under Robert Raikes used the spelling book as the 
subject of study. William Fox introduced the Bible as the 
text-book. Since nearly all of the Sunday-school teachers in 
the beginning of the movement under Fox were secular teachers, 
and not being accustomed to teach the Bible, they adopted the 
methods used in the secular schools of the day in teaching 
the beginners. The class used the Bible as a reading book. 
In the secular school the scholars would line up in a row and 
spell words "by heart." So the teacher introduced into the Sun- 
day-school the memory work and assigned some verses, or allow- 
ing the scholar to choose his own verses, would have him repeat 
them as a part of the class exercise. 

Since rote recitation w^as not considered the highest test of 
teaching, it soon came to be ^ that the teachers ventured into 
the matter of asking questions on the lesson. Some teachers 
could not ask questions. Those who could wrote them out, had 
them printed and placed in the hands of both teacher and 
scholar. Thus arose the modern catechism. And it soon came 
to pass that the Bible was obscured. The Sunday-school came 
to be a school of religious instruction, with the catechism as the 
basis of instruction, the catechism often being based on the 
religious doctrines rather than on the Bible history. 

It was not long before the teachers began to venture out into 
the world of things lying around the pathway of the scholar, 
and to tell stories from life or from fancy to illustrate the 
truths of the lessons. Here was the germ of the modern lesson 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. gQ 

paper for the Sunday-school, and the paper ^Yithout the lesson 
but \Yith stories ^Yith a good moral. Then came along the late 
departed but not lamented Sunday-school library book, ^Yritten 
for the purpose of being sold to Sunday-schools, that the unsus- 
pecting youth might be beguiled into reading accounts of little 
Willie, \Yho at the age of eight spent most of his days in quietly 
reading the Bible and at last was drowned and went to heaYcn 
because he was a regular attendant at the Sunday-school. 

About the time of the moYcment under Fox in England there 
arose in Wales a moYement for the study of the Bible on the 
part of adults. In the churches the men (sometimes women 
also) would meet and spend the entire day in the study of the 
Bible. These meetings were called Bible Classes. It spread 
into the English-speaking world. The class, as a matter of con- 
venience, often met in the same house and at the same time as 
the Sunday-school. It was the Adult Class Movement. It 
became a part of the Sunday-scliool system. So by 1825 the 
Sunday-school had about settled down to be the Sunday-school 
studying the catechism, and over in the corner the Bible class 
studying the Bible. 

2. The American Sunday School Union attempted in 1825 to 
introduce a uniform lesson system for the Sunday-schools of 
America, and came near being successful. Fifty men,* prom- 
inent in church affairs, were selected by the Union to prepare 
a course of study with graded helps and with practically all 
of the features of the lesson system whicli came into general 
use nearly fifty years later. 

A course of lessons was selected covering a period of five 
years. The same lesson was to be used by all the schools at the 
same time and by the schools of all denominations. There 
was provision for graded helps and for the quarterly review. 
This system was widely adopted. For about five years it was 
used by nearly all of the progressive Sunday schools of the 
country. The lesson helps issued by the Union treated the 
lessons generally under five heads : The lesson story, questions 



70 CONVENTIOK NORMAL MANUAL. 

on the lesson, explanatory notes, illustrations, and practical 
lessons. 

This plan did not last long. Denominational publishing 
houses were beginning, and the general work of the Sunday- 
schools as fostered by each of the denominations soon passed 
under the general guidance of these houses. 

VIII. The Lesson System — II. 

From 1835 to 18G5 there was a great variety of work done in 
the way of lessons. The spelling book, the Bible as a reading 
book, the catechism, lessons selected at random, lesson selected 
by the teacher of a class, lessons selected for one school either 
bj' the teaclier or by the superintendent, a series beginning to 
be put forth by the National Sunday School Teacher of Chicago, 
the Berean series by the Methodist Episcopal Church, the West- 
minster series for Presbyterians, the series by the American 
Baptist Publication Society, the Explanatory series by the 
Sunday School Union — these and numbers of others were all in 
the field. 

Mr. B. F. Jacobs, of Chicago, who afterward became America's 
foremost Sunday-school worker, thought that he saw a better 
plan. He commenced to advocate a uniform lesson for the 
use of- alt denominations. On platform and through the press 
he urged his idea. The National Sunday School Convention 
met in 18G9, and Mr. Jacobs discussed the matter, but no 
formal action was taken. When the Executive Committee of 
this convention met in New York in July, 1871, it was decided 
to call a meeting of the publishers of the country for August 8. 
Twenty-nine houses vrere represented. These publishers ap- 
pointed a committee of five to select a series of lessons for the 
year 1872. The committee consisted of Edward Eggleston, 
Methodist ; John H. Vincent, Methodist ; Richard Newton, 
Episcopalian ; Henry C. McCook, Presbyterian, and B. F. 
Jacobs, Baptist. Mr. Newton went home to Philadelphia ; 
Mr. Jacobs went to Long Branch to spend the night. In the 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 71 

absence of these two the other three met and issnecl a statement 
that a nniform series of lessons was not practical and that 
the matter had been dropped. Mr. Jacobs appeared on the 
scene the next day and succeeded in changing two of the com- 
mittee, Vincent and Eggleston, to his way of thinking. A trial 
list of lessons was h^elected and furnished the publishiing houses. 

At the convention in Indianapolis in the spring of 1872 it 
was decided to select a Lesson Committee to select uniform 
lessons to be recommended to ail of the Sunday-school pub- 
lishers of the country. This was done, and the lessons imme- 
diately became popular. Nearly all Evangelical denominations 
of the world nov\^ use these lessons. 

1. The Lessons. The original plan was to have a course of 
seven years, alternating every six months between the New 
Testament and the Old Testament. In 1890 this was changed 
to a six-years' course. There was a discussion at the first 
as to the plan for the selection. Some desired the lessons to 
follow the line of those doctrines common to all Evangelical 
denominations ; others wished them to teach the duties enjoined 
in the Scriptures ; still others desired a system built up on the 
Church Year. Jacobs' voice again prevailed, and it was 
decided to select simply a passage of Scripture, give a topic 
to the passage and let each denomination treat it in its own 
way. Thus it was decided that the basis of uniformity was to 
be the Bible text. 

The six-year cycle of lessons is at present divided into two 
courses, three and a half years being given to the New Testa- 
ment history and two and a half years given to the Old Testa- 
ment history. In the present six-year cycle there are four sub- 
jects treated in the New Testament and three in the old. The 
four New Testament subjects are : 190G, The Life of Jesus as 
seen in the first three gospels; 1908 (January to June), The 
Witness of John to Jesus ; 1909, The Acts and Epistles ; 1910, 
The Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew's Gospel). 

The three periods of Old Testament study are (1) Creation 



72 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

to Samuel; (2) The Kingxlom ; (3) The Glory, Decline and 
Restoration. 

In 1902 the International Convention meeting in Denver 
instructed the Lesson Committee to prepare, for the Beginners, 
a separate series of lessons. This was done, basing the lessons 
on the Story rather than on the historical study of the Bible. 

In 1905 the Convention meeting in Toronto, Canada, instructed 
for an Advanced Course for the adult department. This was 
provided and was based on the topical rather than the historical 
study of the Bible. 

In Louisville, in 1908, the Committee recommended and the 
Convention adopted a fourth series of lessons for the Primary 
department. This gives four uniform courses now before the 
Sunday-school world. The Course for Beginners has come 
into quite general use ; there has been practically no demand 
for the advanced course so far. What is to be is in the realm 
of prophecy, not history. 

2. The Lesson Committee. A word as to its personnel and 
methods of work. In 1872 the first committee consisted of five 
ministers and five lajmien — all Americans ; at the same session, 
1872, were added two members from Canada, making twelve. 
Of these the Methodists had three, Presbyterians three, Bap- 
tists two, Congregationalists two, and Episcopalians two. 

In 1878 the Southern Baptists were given a place on the Com- 
mittee, the representative selected being Rev. John A. Broadus, 
D.D., of Louisville, Ky., Professor of Greek New Testament 
Interpretation and of Homiletics in the Southern Baptist Theo- 
logical seininary. Upon his death, in 1895, he was succeeded 
by Rev. John R. Sampey, D.D., of the same Seminary, occupy- 
ing the chair of Hebrew and Old Testament Interpretation. 

Mr. B. F. Jacobs became a member of the first Lesson Com- 
mittee in 1872. and was a member until his death, in 1902 — a 
period of thirty years. He was succeeded in 1902 by Prof. 
Ira M. Price, of Chicago, Professor in the University of Chicago. 

Rev. Warren Randolph, D.D., -was made a member of the 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 73 

first Lesson Committee in 1872, and continued to serve until 
1899, being for the first twenty-five years of that time the Sec- 
retary of the Committee. He was succeeded in 1899 by Prof. 
J. M. Stifier, of the Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester, 
Pennsylvania, as the representative of the Baptists of the 
East. He served until 1902, being succeeded by Rev. O. P. 
Gifford, D.D., of Massachusetts. In 1908, in the Convention at 
Louisville, Dr. Gifford was dropped from the Lesson Committee 
and his place filled by Rev. W. G. Morehead, D.D., a United 
Presbyterian, of Ohio. 

The committee meets annually. Since the early years of its 
beginning there has been a British section of the committee, 
whose work is done generally by correspondence. 

IX. The Northern Baptists. 

Baptists of the North and West cooperate in their Sunday- 
school and Bible work through the agency of the American 
Baptist Publication Society located in Philadelphia. 

1. History. As a result of the interest in Sunday-school 
work, as has been shown, various publishing houses have been 
established. Baptists earlj- in the century undertook a similar 
work. 

(1) The Baptist General Tract Society was organized in 
Washington, D. C, February 25, 1824. 

(2) In 1826 it was moved to Philadelphia. 

(3) In 1840 the name was changed to American Baptist Pub- 
lication and Sunday School Society. 

(4) In 1844 the words- "and Sunday School" were dropped, 
and the name since that time has been American Baptist Publi- 
cation Society. 

2. Methods of Work. 

(1) Publishing. In this department the Society seeks to 
supply helpful literature through the publication of books, 
tracts, Sunday-school periodicals, record books, cards, maps, 
charts, and other needed requisites for the schools. 



74 CONVENTIOIN^ NORMAL MANUAL. 

(2) The Missioiiarj^ Department does its work through sev- 
eral methods. 

(a) Gifts of Bibles and other publications to places needing 
such help. 

(b) Colportage is one^ of the features of the \York of the 
Society. By this agency good religious literature is taken to 
the homes of the people by the hands of a missionary appointed 
for that purpose. 

(c) Sunday-school Missionaries are sent out to establish 
Sundaj^-schools and help existing Sunday-schools to become 
more efficient. 

(d) Chapel cars are sent into the West to do, along the lines 
of railroads, a combined missionary and colportage work. 

(e) A department of Teacher Training was established in 
1907 and is proving helpful to thousands of Sunday-school 
workers. Much Sunday-school work of general character has 
been done for many years by the various Sunday-school mis- 
sionaries sent out by the Societ3\ 

In New England in the beginning of the last century many 
local and State Sunday-school Unions were organized by the 
Baptists. In the year 183G these were organized into the New 
England Baptist Sunday School Union. After twenty years of 
work in the New England States it turned over its work to the 
American Baptist Publication Society in 1856. 

The Baptists have attempted only three National Sunday 

School Conventions : 1869, at St. Louis ; 1872, at Cincinnati ; 

1877, at Boston. 

I 

X. The Southern Baptists. 

A number of Baptists from the various Southern States met 
in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845, and organized the Southern Bap- 
tist Convention. The constituency of this convention cooperate 
in Missionary and Sunday-school work through three agencies 
called Boards. They cooperate in Foreign Mission Work 
through the Foreign Mission Board, located at Richmond, 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 75 

Virginia ; iu Home Missions, through the Home Mission Board, 
located at Athinta, Georgiti ; and in Sunday-school Work, in 
the publication of periodicals, books, tracts, and in Bible dis- 
tribution, through the Sunday School Board, located at Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. 

1. History of the Sunday-school Work among Southern Bap- 
tists. The Bible is the Sunday-school text-book. To place it 
in the hands of the people has been one of the objects of the 
Southern Baptist Convention since its organization. Note some 
threads of history : 

(1) In 1840 the Convention, by resolution, committed the 
work of Bible distribution to the Home :Mission Board and to 
the Foreign Mission Board. 

(2) In 1851 the Convention appointed a Bible Board, and 
located it in Nashville, Tennessee. It worked well for ten 
years. Then came the civil war. 

(3) In 1863, Nashville fell into the hands of the Federal 
Army, and the Bible Board necessarily discontinued its work. 
This same year, in Augusta, Georgia, the Convention appointed 
a Sunday School Board, and located it in Greenville, South 
Carolina. In 1860 the Board commenced the publication of 
Kind Words, with Doctors Basil Manly, Jr., and John A. 
Broadus as editors. 

(4) In 1868 the location of the Board was changed from 
Greenville to Memphis, Tennessee. Here it continued for five 
years. 

(5) In 1873, by order of the Convention, the Sunday School 
and Bible work was committed to the Domestic and Indian 
Mission and Sunday School Board, Marion, Alabama. This 
Board is now the Home Mission Board of Atlanta. 

(6) In 1886 the Convention ordered the Home Mission Board 
to add to Kind Words, then twenty years old, a full line of 
lesson helps. For five years (1887 to 1891) these lesson helps 
were issued under the direction of the Home ^lission Board in 
Atlanta. 



76 CONVENTION NOEMAL MANUAL. 

(7) In 1891, at Birmingham, Alabama, a Sunday School 
Board ^Yas created by the Convention and located in Nashville, 
Tennessee. To this Board was committed the Sunday-school 
interests of the Baptists of the Southern States. 

2. Methods of work. The following statement from Rev. 
J. M. Frost, D.D., the Corresponding Secretary of the Board, 
sets forth clearly the general plan of the work of the Board: 

"This Board, like the Home and Foreign Boards, is intrusted 
with certain great interests fostered by the Convention, and 
through the Convention by the Baptist churches of the South. 
These interests may be classified for convenience, as follows : 
• (1) Publication. Including periodicals, catechisms, tracts, 
books, such as contemplate w^ise denominational propaganda. 

(2) Bible Work. For distribution of the Word of God in 
destitute places on the home field, and by our missionaries on 
the foreign field. 

(3) Sunday-school. Contemplating distinctive w^ork in this 
sphere for the furtherance of the Sunday-school cause in our 
churches, the improvement of its condition, and fostering of its 
power. 

(4) Missionary. Indicating not so much a separate depart- 
ment, but rather the spirit and purpose of all the forces operat- 
ing by the Board, and finding special emphasis by the distinctive 
missionary teaching in our literature, and by the Missionary 
Day service held in the Sunday-schools on the last Sunday in 
September of each year. 



We have so far studied in outline the history of the insti- 
tution in which we work ; we have studied methods of manage- 
ment and teaching ; in the next section our thoughts will be 
turned to the person to be taught. May Jesus, the world's 
Master teacher, be with every one who, following these pages, 
seeks to be a more efficient workman in the Kingdom of God. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 77 



APPENDIX.* 

Baptists in Sunday-School History. 

A Lecture Delivered at the Southern Baptist Theological 
Seminary, Louisville, Ky., February, 1907 ; and at the 
Southern Baptist Convention, in Session at Richmond, 
Va., May, 1907, by Rev. B. W. Spilman, Field Secretary 
OF THE Sunday School Board. 

In the very beginning, let it be said that the Baptists are not 
the onlj' people who have had a share in the development of 
the Sunday-school movement. Robert Raikes was a Church 
of England man ; H. Chiy Trnmbnll was a Congregationalist, as 
are now Marion Lawrance and ^^^ A. Duncan ; William Rey- 
nolds was a Presbyterian ; Richard Newton was an Episco- 
palian. The first Sunday School Society organized in America 
was not organized by Baptists, but primarily by Bishop William 
White, the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania, 
Benjamin Rush, M.D., an avowed Universalist, and Mr. 
Matthew Carey, a Roman Catholic. George Q. Cannon was a 
Mormon ; W. C. Pearce is a member of the Disciples of Christ, 
as is Herbert H. Moninger ; Edward Eggleston, John II. Vincent 
and H. M. Hamill are stars of the first magnitude in Methodist 
sky ; Joseph Lancaster was a member of the Society of Friends. 

Robert Raikes was born in Gloucester, England, September 
14, 1736. Early in life he became interested in prison reform. 
He visited the jails and worked much among the men in prison. 
Discouraged with the results of his labors, he was about to turn 
away from it when it occurred to him that the wiser thing to 
do would be to prevent crime rather than attempt to rescue the 
criminal from a life of vice. He also had the idea that educa- 



*This address is added here because of its general merit and permanent worth. 
While it does not form a part of the course of study, it will yet serve an excel- 
lent purpose in helping to right answers in the examination and in giving gen- 
eral information. — J. M. Frost. 



78 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

tion was the caire for all moral ills. Hence, be began bis new 
lines of work witb tbe boy as bis field of battle and tbe spelling 
book as bis weapon of warfare. On a Sunday in July, 1780, be 
gathered a few ragged boys from tbe streets of Gloucester into 
tbe bome of Mr. and Mrs. King, on St. Catherine Street, and 
witb four teachers, whom he paid about twenty-five cents per 
day, be began bis first Sunday-school. 

This school was his individual enterprise. No church was in 
any way connected with it. Spelling, reading and arithmetic 
constituted the subjects of study. The Bible was not the text- 
book. Tbe primary purpose was to keep the boys from going 
to jail and to make respectable citizens of them. In all of the 
letters of Mr. Raikes, in which be refers to bis purpose, he 
speaks of it as bis "attempt at civilization." 

Movement and Organization. 

Many Sunday-schools had been organized before tbe time of 
Robert Raikes. but not one of them bad developed into a 
movement. All had been local. Many bad died witb tbe death 
of tbe founders. Not one bad greatly affected tbe Christian 
world at large. What, then, were the forces at work which 
made the movement of Raikes, which began so quietly that it 
scarcely caused a ripple in the Christian world for the first 
three years of its existence, and which itself died and was 
almost forgotten in the place of its birth, to be tbe mighty 
power of today? Robert Raikes, in the beginning of bis work, 
never dreamed of anything beyond bis own bome city. And 
beyond tbe answering of some letters which came to him, be 
made no effort to spread the movement. 

No movement ever became permanent without an organiza- 
tion back of it. Robert Raikes organized nothing but one local 
school, which soon died. There was needed a man with the 
far-seeing genius of organization to make tbe work permanent. 
Such a one was found in tbe person of William Fox, tbe Baptist 
deacon, tbe founder of the first Sunday-school society in the 
world, tbe man who, by the help of God and bis brethren, made 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 79 

possible the present Suiiday-^'ehool era. Let his name be res- 
cued from the comparative oblivion into which it has fallen, 
and let it be given a place in the roll of the heroes of faith and 
works. 

AVilliam Fox was born in Gloucestershire, England, February 
14, 1736, a few miles northeast of the city of Gloucester. His 
father owned the estate of Clapton and was a member of the 
Baptist Church known as Bourton-on-the-Water. William was 
the youngest of eight children. The father dying when William 
was only three years old, he grew to young manhood on the 
farm. At the age of seventeen he went to Oxford. Three, 
years after his removal he was converted, and tliere being no 
Baptist Church in this university city, he returned to the old 
home and united with the church at Bourton-on-the-Water. 

In 1TG4 he went to London and opened first a retail business 
and later a wholesale store. He united with the Prescott Street 
Baptist Church. His business required that he travel. This 
brought him into constant contact with conditions as they 
were in England at that time. Religion was at a low ebb. 
The greater masses of the people had no Bibles. Had there 
been a supi^ly, hardly one person in ten could have read them. 

William Fox saw this and his soul was stirred within him 
to do something to relieve this condition. He prepared a peti- 
tion setting forth the facts and begging Parliament that some- 
thing be done to enable the people to learn to read the Word of 
God for themselves. He urged that free public schools be 
established. Strenuous objections were lodged against it by 
the High Churchmen. They pointed to the Church with its 
priests, its bishops, archbishops, its sacraments and historical 
succession — let them go to these. But the people would not go. 
William Fox knew that they would not. He knew also that if 
they did, with conditions as they were, it could only mean a 
turning away from what was a hollow mockery. 

After years of appealing in vain to the government, he deter- 
mined to do something without the aid of the government. 
Early in 1783, before any public announcement had been made 



80 CONVENTION^ NOEMAL MANUAL. 

about the work of Mr. Raikes, Mr. Fox purchased the old home 
estate of Clapton and immediately organized a school for all 
the children of the estate, supplying books', and sometimes 
clothing, and paying all the expense of teaching. His school 
met on week days, and the only text-book for those who could 
read was the Bible. The spelling book was used for those who 
were being taught to read, but the one purpose of this school 
was to give instruction in the Word of God. 

Enlisting Others. 

Mr. Fox soon saw the posisibilities in this movement and 
determined to erect an organization to spread it. At the 
Baptist monthly meeting at the King's Head Tavern in the 
Poultry in May, 1785, Mr. Fox told of the work which he had 
for two years been doing, and submitted the matter of organiz- 
ing a society to promote schools for the study of the Bible. 
The meeting asked Mr. Fox to issue a call for a general meeting 
to be held in the same place on August 16th, and to extend the 
invitation to all interested persons, regardless of denomina- 
tional affiliation. The call was issued. When the matter 
became public the attention of Mr. Fox was called to the work 
of Mr. Raikes. This was the first time that he had heard of it. 
He opened correspondence with Mr. Raikes and made a personal 
visit to Gloucester to study his work. So impressed was he 
with it that he determined to have his proposed organization 
adopt Sunday as the day, but stick to the original purpose of 
making the study of the Bible the prominent feature. This 
was done, and 'after two preliminary meetings, a meeting was 
called for the Paul's Head Tavern, September 7, 1785, at which 
time and place was organized the first Sunday-school society in 
the world. It was at first called "The Society for the Support 
and Encouragement of Sunday Schools ;" afterward changed to 
"The Society for Promoting Sunday Schools throughout the 
British Dominion." 

The object in the organization of the society was to collect 
and disburse funds to pay teachers in the Sunday-schools need- 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. g\ 

ing help for that work and to make grants of Bibles and spell- 
ing books, and to encourage the idea of local self-support. 

The work of the society was pushed with vigor, and S.unday- 
schools began to spring up like mushrooms in a night. Two of 
Mr. Fox's most valued helpers in the work were Rev. Daniel 
Turner, pastor of the Baptist Church in Abingdon, and Rev. 
Dr. Evans of the Baptist Academy at Bristol. This society 
made the Sunday-school cause go. It transformed a local effort 
into a movement. It so called public attention to the matter 
that within a few years the Imperial Government was forced, 
through popular demand, to make an appropriation to establish 
free public schools in various parts of the kingdom. 

William Fox retired from business in 1787 and devoted the 
remaining years of his life to the Sunday-school cause. Being 
a man of Avealth, intelligence and leisure, he helped mightily. 
He died near Leechdale, April 1, 1826. 

One of the early results of the Sunday-school movement was 
the demand for something to supplement the oral instruction. 
For years local and individual attempts had been made to print 
and distribute tracts. A young Baptist preacher, Joseph 
Hughes, educated at Bristol. Aberdeen, and the University of 
Edinburg, and at the time pastor at Battersea, called together 
some friends and proposed the organization of a general tract 
societ>^ This resulted in the organization of the religious 
Tract Society in London, May, 1799. Hughes was elected 
secretary, which position he held until his death, in 1833. 

William Brodie Gurney was born in Camberwell, now a part 
of London, in December, 1777. During his boyhood days he 
frequently visited the home of William Fox. He early became 
interested in Sunday-school work. At the age of eighteen he 
was converted and joined the Mazepond Baptist Church. His 
study of the Sunday-school situation convinced him that Chris- 
tian people could be induced to do this work without pay. He 
immediately organized a school on the principle of gratuitous 
instruction. Some others joined with him. He began a crusade 
in that direction. He was the stenographer for the House of 
6 



82 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

Lords and treasurer of the Baptist Missionary Society. His 
house soon came to be the gathering place for those Avho held 
the idea of voluntary service in Sunday-school work. The 
opening of the nineteenth century found him vigorously pro- 
claiming this idea. In the spring of 1803 he proposed the 
organization of a new Sunday-school society on this basis. 
The call was issued by Mr. Gurney, and on July 13, 1803, the 
London Sunday School Union was organized. Mr. Gurney was 
successively its secretary, treasurer and president. It soon 
became the leading factor in the Sunday-school work of the 
British Empire and has continued to hold its place. William 
Gurney died in London, March 25, 1855. 

Growing Demand for Bibles. 

From 1823 to 1868 the affairs of the Union were in the hands 
of Mr. William Henry W^atson, for thirty-five years a deacon 
in the Walworth Baptist Church. Under him the Union liad its 
greatest period of expansion. He was the apostle of adult 
Sunday-school work. The present efljcient secretary of the 
London Sunday School Union, Mr. Carey Bonner, is also a 
Baptist, and a Sunday-school man of world-wide reputation. 

Return to the beginning of the nineteenth century. William 
Fox and his society had for fifteen years been establishing 
Sunday-schools with the one idea of Bible study ; William 
Gurney had already begun his agitation of the voluntary, which 
was going to result in the passing away of the paid teacher ; 
tracts were being scattered broadcast all over the land. The 
adult Sunday-sichool movement was already gaining headway 
in Wales and was spreading into England. All of this created 
a tremendous demand for Bibles. The demand far outran the 
supply. There was no general Bible society. Again a Baptist 
came to the rescue. It was at the suggestion of Rev. Joseph 
Hughes that the British and Foreign Bible Society w^as organ- 
ized in London, March 7, 1804. He made the first suggestion, 
he w^rote the call, he wrote the plan of organization, and was 
elected its first secretary, which position he held until the day 
of his death. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. g3 

In America, Baptists have held a prominent place in the 
Sunday-school work. Before 1738 the Baptists of America were 
engaged in systematically, instructing the youth of their 
churches with the use of the catechism. In the first decade of 
the nineteenth century the Baptist general bodies had Sunday- 
schools as one of the regular topics of discussion. 

The first Sunday-school in the great Northwest was organized 
by a young Baptist woman, Miss Harriett Bishop, in what is 
now the city of St. Paul. As early as 1817, Rev. John Mason 
Peck started into the West and organized the first Sunday- 
school in St. Louis. He was for forty years the Sunday-school 
evangel for the Mississippi Valley. 

AYhen the American Sunday School Union was organized in 
1824, it had no warmer supporters than the Baptists. The 
Baptist General Convention endorsed its work by a vote at its 
first session, after the Union was organized. Rev. Howard 
Malcom, the secretary of the General Convention, became the 
agent of the Unioi^ in 182G. Many prominent Baptists joined in 
with its work. 

Benjamin Feanklin Jacobs. 

The brightest star in the Sunday-school firmament of Amer- 
ica, or of tlie world, is Benjamin Franklin Jacobs. No attempt 
will be made here to tell the story of his life. To write it 
would mean to write the history of the Baptists of Chicago ; 
of the Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago ; of the 
United States Christian Commission ; of the Sunday-school 
work of Cook County (Chicago), Illinois; the history of the 
Sunday-school work of Illinois ; of America and the organized 
work of the world ; and the history of the Uniform Lesson 
System. 

From the beginning of the Sunday-school work, one of the 
questions ever present in all conventions of Sunday-school 
workers has been, "What shall we teach?" Robert Raikes said, 
"The spelling book;" William Fox said, "The Bible;" the 
Bishop of London said, "The Prayer Book ;" in Scotland the 
answer was, "The Catechism." And so it has ever been. 



84 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

In the year 1825 the American Sunday School Union issued 
a Uniform Series of lessons. It had many excellent features. 
But the time was not yet come when that kind of thing would 
succeed. It was very popular for a little while, but the reaction 
came. The Union issued the lesson helps as well as the lessons 
and would not allow the use of the lessons by other publishers. 
It is not needful here to discuss the causes of failure. It 
failed, and the matter of uniformity was delayed for nearly fifty 
years. 

About the year 1865 B. F. Jacobs conceived the idea of having 
a uniform scripture lesson for all schools of all denominations 
and for all grades of the schools. Of course the idea met 
opposition. For six years Jacobs advocated his idea from 
platform and in press. In 1871 the Executive Committee of the 
National Sunday School Convention met in New York, in the 
month of July, to plan for the convention to be held in Indian- 
apolis the next year. Mr. Jacobs was present and asked if 
something could not be done in the matter of the uniform 
lesson. The committee called a meeting of the lesson pub- 
lishers for a conference in New York on August 8th of the same 
year. Twenty-eight of the publishing houses of the country 
sent representatives to the meeting. This conference appointed 
a committee, with instructions to prepare a series of lessons 
for the year 1872. The committee consisted of B. F. Jacobs, 
John H. Vincent, Edward Eggleston, Richard Newton, and 
Henry C. McCook. Mr. Jacobs went out of the city to spend 
the night, and in his absence the committee met and issued a 
card announcing the failure of the project. Mr. Jacobs hear- 
ing of the action of the committee, hurried back to the city, 
called the committee together, and by sheer force of his per- 
sonality had them to rescind their former action and select the 
lessons. Mr. Newton had left the city ; Mr. McCook refused 
to rescind his part of the proceeding, and so Mr. Jacobs, Mr. 
Eggleston and jNIr. Vincent selected the lessons. 

In the Sunday School Convention at Indianapolis in 1872, a 
resolution was introduced, adopting the uniform lesson idea. 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 85 

The debate was led by Mr. Jacobs, and the matter was carried 
overwhelmingly. Mr. Jacobs became a member of the first 
lesson committee and served nntil bis death. Rev. A. E. Dun- 
ning, D.D., Congregationalist, of Boston, and secretary of the 
Lesson Committee from 1S9G to 1902, in the report of the com- 
mittee in Denver, 1902, says, in speaking of Jacobs : "He con- 
ceived the idea of one system of Sunday-school lessons for the 
world ; his abounding faith and tireless energy brought the 
idea into practical fruition, and his name will stand first among 
those noble men who led the way in the last generation in pop- 
ular Bible study in the Anglo-Saxon world." 

In connection with the work of the lesson committee the 
names of three other Baptists are worthy of special mention. 
The first of these is Rev. Warren Randolph, D.D. He was 
chosen a member of the first lesson committee, in 1872, and was 
chosen its first secretary. For twenty-five years he occupied 
this position, and in all that time missed only one session, that 
being in 1888, when a severe storm arrested him on the way. 
He was accurate and faithful in all the details of the work. 
He conducted the vast correspondence of the committee for a 
quarter of a century in his o\^'n handwriting. Dr. Dunning says 
of him : "Dr. Randolph, it may be safely said, has done more 
work for the International Lesson Committee than any other 
member of any committee. His duties as secretary made this 
necessary, but he welcomed the opportunity with a full sense* 
of his great responsibility in the love of a strong, sweet spirit 
that saw with a prophet's vision the millions of Sunday-school 
teachers and pupils to whose service he gladly gave himself." 

Professor John A. Broadus. D.D., LL.D., of the Southern 
Baptist Theological Seminary, was elected a member of the 
committee in 1878 and served until his death, on March 16, 1895. 
From the first his presence gave help and encouragement. Of 
his labors the report of the Lesson Committee of 189G says : 
"The genial and gentle Dr. John A. Broadus is no more. On 
the sixteenth of March. 1895, he passed away. For nearly 
seventeen years he wrought beside us so modestly as to make us 



86 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

all feel that we were brethren, and yet so grandly that we all 
recognized in him 'a prince and a great man in Israel.' A 
warmer friend of the International Lesson system there has not 
been in all the land than he. A scholar of the highest order, he 
had no difficulty in planning for the wants of the ordinary 
Sunday-school. For the most of his life a teacher in a Theo- 
logical Seminary, and at the time of his death president of an 
institution which then had the largest number of theological 
students of any theological seminary in the w^orld, he had no 
idea that ordinary Sunday-schools can be turned into theological 
seminaries. With a high ideal of what students of the Bible 
ought to do, he was wise enough to plan for Sunday-schools 
w^hat they can do." 

"It w^as Dr. Broadus who suggested and first indicated the 
larger readings which have lately been recommended in connec- 
tion with the selected lessons, and which help to give a fuller 
and clearer idea of the scripture to be studied." 

Successor to Dr. Broadus. 

When Dr. Broadus passed away the choice fell upon a worthy 
successor in the person of his former pupil and associate in the 
faculty of the seminary, Professor John R. Sampey, D.D., LL.D. 
He entered the committee in 1895 and has been an important 
factor in its work ever since. He does valuable work in its 
sub-committee on Old Testament Lessons. He served on the 
first committee appointed to select a course of lessons for begin- 
ners. When the convention in Toronto, in 1905, voted to provide 
an advanced course, the lesson committee appointed Dr. Sampey 
as one of the sub-committeemen. He was asked by the sub- 
committee to take the matter in hand, and he alone prepared 
the present course of advanced lessons, the general topic being 
"The Ethical Teachings of Jesus." 

In the Inter-denominational Sunday School Work of America, 
Baptists have had a prominent part. Here again B. F. Jacobs 
becomes the most prominent figure. Born in Paterson, New 
Jersey, September IS, 1834, he moved to Chicago when nineteen 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 87 

years of age. In 1854 lie united with the First Baptist Church 
of that citj'. In the spring of 1859 he helped in the organiza- 
tion of the Chicago Sunday School Association, of whose execu- 
tive committee he was afterward chairman. In the summer of 
the same year he helped to organize the Illinois State Sunday 
School Association and was for thirty years the chairman of its 
executive committee. 

At the session of the International Sunday School Convention 
in Toronto, in June, 1881^ Mr. Jacobs was chosen chairman of 
the executive committee, which position he held until his death, 
in 1902. The work immediately felt the thrill of his touch. 
He was born to lead. He was gentle and yet as firm as a rock. 
Men loved him and followed Tiim. He was the most prominent 
factor in the Sunday-school world for twenty years. When he 
was called to the leadership the forces were few and feeble and 
discouraged. He left them a well organized and enthusiastic 
army. 

It was he who saw the wider possibilities, and it was his 
hand which penned the following words, taken from the report 
of the executive committee in the city of Chicago in 1887 : "We 
submit for your consideration the question of an International 
Sunday School Convention, to include all lands, to be held in 
Europe at such time and place as may be decided upon by the 
new executive committee in correspondence with the workers 
abroad." Out of this recommendation grew the organization 
of the World's Sunday School Convention, which held its first 
session in the city of Loudon in 1889. Mr. Jacobs was the 
chairman of its executive committee from its organization until 
the day of his death. 

While the clans were beginning to move toward Denver for 
the session of the Tenth International Convention, the press of 
the country told that the great leader had gone to his corona- 
tion. He died in Chicago, June 23, 1902. 

W. N. Hartshorn. 

In 1887, among the new names appearing as members of the 
International Executive Committee was that of Mr. W. N. 



38 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

Hartsliorii, of Boston. He bad already attained prominence 
as a primary ^yo^ke^ in the Ruggles Street Baptist Clinrch, of 
Boston. In 1888 lie became cbairman of the Executive Com- 
mittee of tbe Massacbusetts State Sunday Scbool Association. 
He was chairman of the Transportation Committee for tbe 
first World's Sunday Scbool Convention in 1889. Since 1899 
Mr. Hartshorn has been vice-chairman of tbe International 
Executive Committee. He bad largelj^ planned for tbe conven- 
tion in Denver in 1902. When it became necessary to elect a 
new chairman in Denver the committee retired, no nominations 
were made, and every vote was cast for Mr. Hartshorn. Tbe 
International Sunday Scbool work under his administration 
has bad tbe most remarkable growth in its bistorj^ To even 
list the forward movements which have been inaugurated 
during his chairmanship would make a page of manuscript. 

In tbe year 1827 Miss M. Y. Ball, an active worker in the 
Baptist Bethel of Boston, and Miss Caroline Blood, opened a 
kindergarten. Mr. Henry J. Howland, a teacher of a class of 
boys in tbe I'irst Baptist Sunday-school,, visited the kinder- 
garten in 1829. So impressed was be with tbe working of tbe 
plan that be determined to make a similar attempt in tbe Sun- 
day-school. He at once laid tbe matter before the teachers' 
meeting of tbe Sunday-school, and having tbe approval of tbe 
teachers, he gathered about twenty small children, and going 
into the gallery be commenced bis work. He worked out a 
series of lessons for them and published them under the title, 
"Lessons for Infant Sabbath Schools." The splendid primary 
work of today dates its beginning to this young Baptist man of 
Boston. 

The teacher of the primary department of tbe Central Baptist 
Church of Elizabeth, N. J., in 1888, sought out all of the babies 
who would one day be in the department, and making a list of 
them called it her "Cradle Roll." Thus did Miss Juliette 
Dimock (now Mrs. Juliette Dimock Dudley), begin tbe Cradle 
Roll movement which has s])read around tbe world. 

Holding young men in the Sunday-school has ever been a 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 89 

problem. One of the best solutions to the problem is to be 
found in the organized classes for young men known as Baraca. 
On September 10, 1890, Mr. Marshall A Hudson, a business man 
of Syracuse, N. Y., stood looking at the unfinished building of 
the First Baptist Church. He was thinking of what lie could 
do for the young men of the city. Suddenly it occurred to him 
that young men do not want things done for them ; they want 
to do tilings. On this platform he organized his class of young 
men in October, 1890. They chose the word "Baraca" (2 Chron. 
20: 26) as the name. They elected officers, appointed commit- 
tees, adopted a constitution, and with the motto, "Young men 
at work for young men, all standing by the Bible and the Bible 
School,-' they went to work. There were eighteen of them. 
The movement has spread around the world. At the present 
rate of increase there will be a million men enlisted in this 
department of the Sunday-school work within a very few years. 

A few years after the Baraca movement started the Philathea 
Class for young women was organized by Miss May Hudson in 
the First Baptist Church of Syracuse. This is for young 
women what Baraca is for young men. 

For the reason that the Sunday-school work along denomina- 
tional lines is so well known, very brief mention will be made 
here. The Baptists of America do their work through two 
Sundaj'-school agencies. In the .North the agency employed is 
the American Baptist Publication Society, located in Philadel- 
phia. In the South the Baptists work through the Sunday 
School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, at Nashville. 

The Baptist General Tract Society was organized in Wash- 
ington, D. C, February 25, 1824. Two years later it was moved 
to Philadelphia. In 1840 the name was changed to American 
Baptist Publication and Sunday School Society. The words 
"and Sunday School" were dropped in 1844, and the organiza- 
tion has gone under its present name ever since. 

In 1845 the Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 
Augusta, Ga. Two years later the convention committed its 
Bible interests to the Home Mission Board for the Southern 



90 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

States. In 1851 the convention appointed a Bible Board and 
located it in Nashville. To it was committed the Sunday-school 
vrork. During the civil war the Board discontinued its work. 
In 1863 another Board was located in Greenville, S. C. In 
1868 it was moved from Greenville to Memphis, Tenn. Here it 
continued for five years. In 1873 the Sunday-school interests 
of the convention were committed to the Domestic and Incfian 
Mission and Sunday School Board at Marion, Ala. This 
arrangement continued until 1891. In the meantime the Board 
at Marion had been moved to Atlanta, and was called the Home 
Mission Board. In 1891, at Birmingham, the convention voted 
to provide for a separate Board, and located the present Sunday 
School Board in Nashville, Tenn. 

It would take a large volume to tell the story of the work of 
these two institutions, and it will not be attempted here. Atten- 
tion will be called to just two other phases of the Sunday-school 
worlv in which Baptists have had a part, the training of 
teachers and the work of the pastor in the Sunday-school. 

Baptists were the first in the Southern field to take up the 
work of teacher training as a movement. Under the direction 
of the Sunday School Board this work was commenced June 1, 
1901. The Baptists were closely followed by the Methodists 
who, in the September following, began their work under the 
direction of Rev. H. M. Hamill, D.D. Later the Presbyterians 
took up the work under the direction of Rev. A. L. Phillips, D.D. 

The pastor is the key to the Sunday-scliool situation. To this 
seemingly forgotten truth the Baptists of the South, through 
their Seminary at Louisville, aided by the Sunday School 
Board, have called attention anew. The Sunday-school lec- 
tures, on the Sunday School Board Foundation, delivered 
annually since 1902, have done more to awaken interest in the 
matter of tlie pastor and the Sunday-school than any other one 
agency in America. Through the cooperation of the Theological 
Seminary and the Sunday School Board the Chair of Sunday 
School Pedagogy was established in the Seminary in 1906. The 
coming of Professor B. H. DeMent to this chair in October, 



SUNDAY SCHOOL HISTORY. 91 

1906, meant the real beginning of one more of those world-wide 
movements in which Baptists have had so prominent a part. 

And thus has our history been imperfectly traced from the 
days of William Fox, in the closing years of the eighteenth 
century, to the days of 1907. What has been done? It was 
William Fox, a Baptist, who organized the first Sunday-school 
society in all the world and made possible the modern Sunday- 
school era. It was ATilliam Brodie Gurney, a Baptist, who 
ushered in the era of gratuitous instruction in the Sunday- ^ 
school and who organized the London Sunday School Union, the 
greatest Sunday School Union in the world, as the exponent of 
the voluntary idea in Sunday-school work. It was Joseph 
Hughes, a Baptist, who flooded the world with tracts and other 
good literature for the Sunday-school teachers and scholars. 
It was he who organized the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
the greatest organization on the earth for supplying the text- 
book of the Sunday-school. It was William Henry Watson, a 
Baptist, vxiio guided the affairs of the London Sunday School 
Union through the era of its greatest prosperity and who was 
its secretary for forty-five years. 

It was Miss Harriett Bishop, a Baptist, who, pushing into 
the great Northwest in America, planted the first Sunday-school 
in that part of our country. It was John Mason Peck, a Bap- 
tist, who, locating in St. Louis in its wild pioneer days, organ- 
ized its first Sunday-school, and was for forty years the evangel 
for much of the Ohio and Mississippi Valley. 

It was Benjamin Franklin Jacobs, a Baptist, who took up the 
leadership of a disorganized and almost discouraged group of 
Sunday-school workers and welded them into a compact, enthu- 
siastic working army. It was W. N. Hartshorn, a Baptist, who 
took up the reins when Jacobs fell, and who now guides the 
forces of the organized Sunday-school work of America. Jacobs 
it was who saw the vision of a World's Sunday School Con- 
vention and issued the call for it. He it was who guided it as 
its executive officer from its beginning until he fell at his post. 
He it was who gave" to the world the International Uniform 
Lesson System. 



92 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

It ^Yas Dr. Warren Randolph, a Baptist, who was the first 
secretary of the International Lesson Committee, which position 
he held for twenty-five years. It was Professor John R. 
Sampey, a Baptist, who worked out the first course of advanced 
lessons for the International Sunday School Association of 
America. 

It was Mrs. Juliette Dimock Dudley, a Baptist, who started 
the Cradle Roll. It was Henry J. Howland, a Baptist, who 
organized the first primary department in the world and who 
made the movement popular. It was Marshall A. Hudson, a 
Baptist, who sounded the bugle call to the young men of Amer- 
ica, and who, under the Baraca banner, is enlisting young men 
by the thousands in Sunday-school work. It was Miss May 
Hudson, a Baptist, who started the splendid Philathea move- 
ment for young ladies. 

It was Professor B. H. DeMent, a Baptist, who occupied the 
first full professorship of Sunday School Pedagogy in any Theo- 
logical Seminary in the world. 

This cloud of witnesses looking down upon us bid us do yet 
greater things in the Sunday-school work to the nonor and 
glory of our King. 



ADDENDA. 

The International Lesson Committee in 1908 elected as its 
secretary Professor Ira M. Price, a Baptist, of the University of 
Chicago. 

In the Interdenominational World's Sunday School Conven- 
tion the president, Rev. F. B. Meyer, of London, England ; the 
two secretaries, Mr. Carey Bonner, of London, England, and 
Mr. W. N. Hartshorn, of Boston, Mass., and the treasurer, Mr. 
A. B. McCrillis, of Providence, R. I., are all Baptists. 



SECOND DIVISION— THE PUPIL 



STUDIES IN THE PUPILS LIFE. 



Would you a scholar attempt to teach? 

Study his habits, nature, speech. 

Make him tell you all you can : 

From this knov^ledge form your plan. 

Begin \vith that which he does know; 

Tell him little and tell that slo^v. 

Use words that he will kno^v and feel ; 

Review, call back, dra\v out at ^vill. 

Consult his ta^es ; help him climb ; 

Keep him working all the time. 

Be firm, be gentle ; love is ^rong. 

Look to Jesus ; you'll not go v^rong. 

—SILAS FARMER. 
(93) 



DESIGN. 



The design of these ''Studies" is to bring 
the subjecSt of the pupil's life ^vithin the brief- 
ed compass and easier grasp. Numbers of 
books can be had on the ''Pupil/' These give 
in detail the periods of development and their 
charadteri^ics. In these "Studies" ^ve v^ill re- 
duce to skeleton form the discussion of char- 
acSteri^ics, and our space Avill be given largely 
to the method be^ suited to dealing \vith these 
characSteristics. 

No originality is claimed for the names of 
the periods of the charadteri^ics. This ter- 
minology is the same pradtically in all books 
on the subjedt. Ackno^vledgment is made 
especially to the works of G. Stanley Hall, 
Roark, St. John and Forbush. 
(94) 



SECTION I. 



The Teacher and the Pupil's Life. 

1. Why use the term, "Pupil's Lifef Sunday-school teachers 
must know "Child Nature" and the nature of the succeeding 
periods as ^Yell. "Child Nature*' relates to the Primary De- 
partment only. The Sunday-school, todaj;. includes all ages. 

2. Wily study the "Pupil's Life?" Because the cryinir need 
is for real teachers. Real Bible teaching touches the life ; it 
issues in Christian character. The teacher who really teaches 
must know three things: the lesson to be taught; the pupil to 
be taught, and lioic to teach tlie lesson to the pupil. 

For years the question has been, "Will you teach? ' Now, 
it is, "Can you teach?" The present day injunction to teachers 
may be thus stated : 

Know your "Wliat" — the matter to be tauglit ; 

Know your "Whom" — the pupil to be taught ; 

Know j^our "How" — the method to be used. 

The real teacher combines these three, or, as we say, "knows 
how^ to teach." There are certain gateways, physical and 
mental, which lead to the citadel of the soul. The real teacher 
knows tliese. 

3. The teacher who does not study the pupiVs life. Will that 
teacher be able to really teach? Possibly so, but by accident. 
Prof. Coe says that the old-fashioned schoolmaster was sup- 
posed to have just two characteristics : a knowledge of the text- 
book, and of how to maintain discipline. Many an old-fashioned 
schoolmaster was a real teacher, but he was never a reaf 
teacher until he knew his pupil as well as his text-book. He 
likely spent years of ineffective work, because it was one-sided. 
The knowledge of the subject-matter, which is the Bible, 

(95) 



96 



CONVENTION NOKMAL MANUAL. 



has been and always will be insisted upon. The other side 
Of this matter must be brought up. 

The teacher w^ho does not study the mind to be taught will 
not know the method to be used, and the method makes possi- 
ble the bringing together of mind and matter. Better good 
method and less knowledge of the matter, than full knowledge 
of the matter and no method. "The teaching process may be 
represented by a triangle ; one side stands for the snl)jecf, 
another for the pupil, the third, connecting the two, stands for 
the 7nethod.'' 

4. TJie teaclier who does study the pupiVs life will adapt the 
teaching to the mind that is taught. The broadest possible 
division of life into periods would be Childhood, Youth, Man- 
hood and Womanhood. The teaching in each should be adapted 
to the knowledge and experience of the pupils. 

Childhood. A thought comes knocking ; w^hen does the mind 
invite it in? When a like thought, inside, invites it. A skilled 
primary teacher has a truth to teach. She looks into the mind 
and life of her pupils and finds stored there knowledge of 
objects, love of nature and of home, a vivid imagination and a 
love for stories of fairy land and of heroes. She wraps her 
teaching up in these things ; she teaches. In the child's mind 
like attracts like ; they stick each to the other, and the new 
truth is safely lodged in the mind. The matter and method are 
here adapted to the mind. 

Youth. The skilled teacher of youths looks into the mind 
and life of the pupil and finds what? A love for facts, for 
men and deeds, for investigating and experimenting in every 
field of knowledge. The teacher, who is wise, becomes a pilot, 
leading the pupils in the quest for knowledge, rejoicing with 
them in their finds. The teacher adapted the matter and 
method to the mind. 

Adults. The teacher of adults finds them interested in the 
"Why" and "How" of things ; in causes and effects and in 
comparative values, and in things which have a practical 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 97 

bearing on life's problems. The wise teacher leads them to 
reason, to investigate and to pass judgment. 

5. This is adaptation of matter and method to the pupil's 
mind. This is the plan : to know the life, then adapt your 
teaching to the life you teach. This is spiritual grafting; fit- 
ting into the stem a new bud. The two, stem and bud, are 
somewhat different, yet enough alike to adhere. 

Adapt your teaching. The test of teaching is not what 
you say, it is what stays. To know how to make truth stay 
is to graft the bud of living truth into the life and to do it 
successfully so that the life will be fruitful for good. This 
is the teacher's task. To do this is to be a King's Teacher. 

6. Books on the pxipiVs life. This is the era of mind study. 
*'The inner side of the pupil's life, his interests and char- 
acteristic ways of getting at things, constitute laws for the edu- 
cational process." 

So, let the teacher have a good book on psychology. Study 
the clearly marked periods of life development with the sub- 
divisions and characteristics of each. Fix in mind these great 
broad periods ; let them be a background for future study. 
Know that all lives do not develop alike ; that all character- 
istics do not develop alike. Yet in the normal life the broad 
periods and general characteristics hold. good. Chapter 2 of 
these "Studies" sums up and presents graphically some of 
these most prominent traits. Let this summary pave the 
way for you ; into this "outline map" fit the details gathered in 
future study and reading. 

7. Study the individual pupil. Know from books the char- 
acteristics of the year, or years, of your pupils ; then study 
the individuals at close range. There must be a difference 
in temperament, capacity and latent possibilities, because ther^ 
are different personalities. The boy in the cultured home is 
different from the bootblack. We are told that no two leaves 
in the forest are alike. God is no plagiarist and creates no 
two people alike. The teacher's task is to know the peculiari- 

7 



98 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

ties of each pupil, and to fit the teaching to these peculiarities. 
There is a "key" to the door of each life, and the teacher must 
find it Lives are Yale locks ; all are locks, but no two alike. 

One teacher worked out this problem in this way: She 
had a little book marked "My Class Account Book." Each pupil 
had a page. Following the name of each on the page was the 
birth date and whether or not the pupil was a Christian. Then 
followed tlie facts gathered from anywhere and everywhere. 
Facts about the home influences, gathered from visits to the 
home ; from chats with the parents about the pupil ; from 
chats with the pastor, getting his idea of the home ; facts 
about the school life of each pupil, gathered from the day 
school-teacher and companions of the pupils. So the life 
account of each pupil grew in completeness, presenting a splen- 
did picture of the strong and weak places, the needs and 
ambitions of the pupil. This teacher first studied the lesson 
to be taught, then turned to the life account of each pupil. 
The teacher planned to fit the message to each life. 

Your class is too large for this? Then group the pupils 
and learn the facts about each group. 



SECTION II. 

A Bird's-eye View of the Pupil's Life. A Survey of Broad 
Periods and Leading Characteristics. 

Why does the little girl love her dolls for a certain period, 
then give them away? Why does the boy give up tops and 
marbles for dogs and guns? Why, in certain periods of life, 
do young people keep a diary, or collect postage stamps, or 
love argument for argument's sake, or read love stories and 
poetry, or pore over books of travel? Because certain powers 
develop and predominate in certain periods. Because certain 
interests and tendencies assert themselves and demand expres- 
sion in the life. 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 99 

In the following chart, the attempt is made to name, in one 
word, certain characteristics of the broad periods indicated. 
The terms used must be considered as general ; it is impossible 
to confine the development of traits of character to definite 
months and years. 

2Vo^e. In reading across the page, note how the characteristics 
change in the different periods. In the light of this, remember 
that the method of teaching must also change. "To treat all 
pupils alike is to ruin most of them," and, it might be added, 
to treat the same pupil always the same way is to ruin him. 



Childhood 
Years 2-8 

Dependent 

Home 

Affectionate 

Trusting 

Play 

Imitative 

Curious 

Imaginative 

Stories 

Self-centered 

Planting 

Blade 



Youth 
Years 9-15 
Independent 
School 
Chummy 
Exacting 
Games 
Acquisitive 
Inquisitive 
Matter-of-fact 
Reading 
Self-conscious 
Watering 
Ear 



Young People 

Years 16-20 
Aggressive 
Active Life 
Society 
Doubting 
Amusement 
Investigative 
Argumentative 
Ideals 
Ambition 
Self-sacrificing 
Increasing 
Full corn 



A Study of Mental and Physical Causes and Effects. 

The casual observer has noticed the effects of certain bodily 
conditions upon the mind and life, also the effects of mental 
conditions upon the body. Capital of this fact has been made 
by Christian Science, concerning which it has been wisely said 
that "all that is new in it is not true; all that is true in it is 
not new\" 

No person should be more interested in these conditions and 
their effects than the teacher ; no teacher more than a Sunday- 
school teacher. The inner life can be reached only through 
the gateways which the body opens. 

This line of study is of value in selecting the methods of 
teaching ; it is of supreme value as a guide in management and 
discipline. 



IQQ CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

I. Effects of 'body upon the mind. 

1. Tired pupils cannot pay attention. 

2. Uncomfortable pupils cannot pay attention. 

3. Poor light or ventilation distracts attention. 

4. Bright light or colors produce nervousness. 

5. Nervous pupils are quick-tempered. 

6. Over-eating or lack of food causes mental inaction. 

7. Stimulants make people easily excited. 

8. Narcotics make people dull and uninterested. 

9. Poor sight or hearing explains the pupil's poor progress. 

II. Effects of mind upon body. 

1. Excitement produces nervousness. 

2. Worry or grief produces weakness or pain. 

3. A happy nature usually indicates good health. 

4. A sound mind is usually in a sound body. 

5. Fright produces paleness and fainting. 

6. Purity of thought gives purity of life. 

7. Brave men walk erect. 

8. The criminal sulks and sneaks. 

III. Temperaments, 

As to temperaments, there are two broad classes of pupils, 
the motor and the sensory, 

I. Motor. 

Temperament. Effect. 
Quick, eager, alert ; quick temper ; Jump at conclusions ; lack perse- 
fickleness ; learn rapidly* verance. Do not retain well. 
Girls in majority. 

II. Sensory, 

Passive ; slow to respond. Look Conclusions slower and saner, 

at all sides of questions. Greater tenacity. Less at- 

Inclined to be timid. Boys tractive than ''motor." 
in majority. 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 



101 



A Study in Physical Development. 
Characteristics. Effects. 

Childhood. Ages 3-8. 



Rapid growth in lieight. 

Rapid growth in weight. 

Rapid circulation. 

Brain, nearly done growing at 6 ; 

after 8th year, grows but 

little. 
Tender tissues. 



Little continuous resistance of 

fatigue. 
Restless activity. 
Develops power to associate ideas ; 

results in habit formation. 

High death rate. 



Boyhood and Girlhood. Ages 9-12. 



Increase in height. 
Proportionate increase in weight. 
Muscular development. 

Brain, rapid growth of nerve fiber. 



Great activity. 

Physical vigor develops. 

Careless ; awkward. Low death 
rate. 

Growth of attentive faculty ; re- 
tentive memory. 



Early Adolescence, Ages 12-16. 



Heart and large arteries increase 

in size ; circulation more 

rapid. 
Shoulders broaden ; women get 

full figure. Men's beard 

grows. 
Unequal growth of muscles and 

bones. 
Vocal cords elongate. 

Brain, stops growing at 15. 



Growth of body consumes energy. 

Laziness ; instability ; lack of 
energy. 

Pride in appearance ; later, fas- 
tidious. 

Awkward. 

Voice deepens ; tone becomes 

fixed. 
Student habit should be formed. 



Middle and Later Adolescence. Ages 17-20. 



Little increase in height. 
Muscles develop size and strength. 



Nervous system well developed. 
Brain, is full grown. 



Full tide of conscious manhood 
and womanhood. Appetites 
and desires strong. Great 
endurance possible ; love of 
athletics. 

Will power developed. 

Period of reasoning and judg- 
ment ; hard study possible. 



Some Pekiods of Interest. 

In Sunday-school teaching half the battle is in gaining and 
holding attention. Without attention there is no teaching. 



102 OONVETs^TION NORMAL MANUAL. 

When do pupils pay attention? When they are interested, 
hiterest, then, is the key to attention. 

If in teaching we give the pupil that in which he is not 
interested, what does it amount to? It will be like a child 
attempting to eat hard foods before the teeth come. 

Three good rules for the teacher are : 

"Give the pupil nothing that is not interesting. 

Give the pupil not everything that is interesting. 

Give the pupil nothing merely because it is interesting." 

Period No. 1. Birth to 8. 

The interests of the period can be summed up in the w^ord 
Live. The simple round of the baby's life is to eat, sleep and 
grow. It is the Cradle Roll age, for the discussion of which 
we refer the reader to Sunday-school literature in general. 
The child of this age does not come directly under the teach- 
ing of the Sunday-school, yet the primary teacher may awaken 
the child's interest in the Sunday-school by visits to the home 
and by birthday remembrances. The Cradle Roll is a feeder 
to the primary department ; the primary teacher ought to 
know who her future pupils are. A well-kept Cradle Roll 
makes this possible. 

Period No. 2. Ages 3 to 8. 

The interests of the department may be indicated by the 
word Do. Activity ! I The healthy child must be doing things. 
It cannot "be still ;" it will not "don't." Some one has said "the 
child has a million nerves to make it wiggle and not one to 
keep it still." 

The teacher's task is to direct this activity, not to repress 
it ; to plan things to do, not everlastingly preach ''don't.'' 
"Don't" is a stopper, "do" is a vent. 

Hence the teacher plans a program varied to suit the restless 
nature. A brief period of teaching will be followed by a song ; 
another period of teaching, followed by a march, and so on. 

Teach largely by doing ; make things ; write or draw on the 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 1()3 

blackboard; build with blocks; use gestures suggesting the 
flight of the birds, the waving of the trees, the moving of the 
cattle. As far as possible, act out the story. 

Tlie story that charms and holds attention is the one filled 
with action ; the child mind follows what is done, and the 
outcome of it all, and seeks to do likewise. The teacher under- 
stands the importance of using a story with a proper ending — 
leading into right kinds of action. 

Period No. 3. Ages 9 to 12. 

The chief interest in this period may be expressed by the 
word Get. Look into the boy's pockets and see marbles, 
tops, nails, strings and a picture of the big elephant. Look 
into the girl's room and notice her pictures, post cards, orna- 
ments of every kind. 

The wise teacher directs these pupils along the line of getting 
things. The class collects curios and souvenirs from Pales- 
tine and mission fields ; a scrap book on missions is filled with 
facts and stories gathered from papers and magazines. A post 
card album is a general picture gallery of foreign countries 
and their people. 

Memory work comes in for a large share of the teacher's 
Avork with these pupils. They can get it, now, and retain it. 
The supplemental lessons should not be slighted. 

Puzzles are also interesting. The teacher plans it; as, 
"How many men in the Bible have names beginning with "A?" 
"Let us name the chapters of Matthew with words whose 
initial letters follow the letters of the alphabet." 

Period No. 4. Ages 12 to 15. 

The chief interest of this period can be summed' up in the 
word "j5e." This is the age of the dawning of manfibo'd "tind 
womanhood. Pupils "hear voices calling them." They feel 
the stirrings of their natures to he somebody. They dream 
of what they can be or may be, so it is the period of air castles, 
of day dreams. Into the nature has come an appreciation of 



J^04 CONTENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

art, music, poetry, literature, oratory, etc., and they long to be 
skilled in them. They are a bundle of contradictions ; their 
ideals are not yet fixed. Ambitions next Sunday morning may 
be different from last Sunday morning, according to what 
they have heard or read during the week. The wise teacher 
expects and is prepared for the unexpected. 

The social instinct is coming well to the front; beginnings 
of class organizations should come in this period. The gang 
idea ; or the club spirit is strong. Boys should be separated 
from girls, a man teaching boys and a woman teaching girls ; 
into each class may be put the simple beginnings of class organ- 
iza.tion. The full flower will come in th^ "Baraca" and 
"Philatheas" age, or young manhood and womanhood. 

Period No. 5. Ages 16 to 18. 

In this period the emotional nature is prominent ; the inter- 
ests may be summed up best in the word Love. The emphasis 
here is not upon love as relates to "sweethearts," but upon 
the nobler feelings of which the "sweetheart" experiences are 
but a shadow. The true emotional nature, with its higher, 
nobler feelings, is the teachers' consideration here. God touches 
the life through the emotions. Heart stirrings move the will 
to action. 

The higher feelings and emotions should be appealed to by 
the teacher in the Sunday-school. Nothing so much develops 
the religious nature. The teacher may stimulate love for God 
and His cause, devotion to duty, consecration of life and tal- 
ents. Stimulate a desire to be like the hero of the mission field 
or the public man who stood for the right. This is done by 
presenting concrete cases. Stories of courage stir the emotion 
of courage. The manliness of Christ, the heroism of Paul, the 
devotion of Judson and Yates will help to fix the ideals of 
the pupil and shape his destiny. 

Period No. 6. Ages 18 to 21. 

Within this period the ambition is to Knoio, Our pupils 
are now young men and young women. Judgment and reason 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. JQS 

here come to the front. They can exercise force of will and 
positive choice. They pride themselves upon their power 
to judge wisely and w^ell. They seek to know; minds and 
hearts are hungry for knowledge. Doubts may here creep in 
and they wish to know the right from the wrong. Infidelity 
and skepticism have their first place in the life during this 
period. 

The wise teacher knows that this class will not be satisfied 
with shams. There must be genuine teaching of the truth 
and honest leading of the class into a knowledge of vital things. 
Give them definite teaching of the Bible and straight cuttings 
of the Word of Truth. 

In General. In closing this chapter let it be said in general • 
that characteristics which once develop in the life are never 
completely lost thereafter. But it is evident that certain char- 
acteristics are more prominent in one period than in any other. 
The true teacher watches for what is lacking in the life as well 
as what is prominent. Education is a "drawing out ;" the 
teacher must know what is possible along this line. The study 
of social and individual wants and possibilities has given us 
a study of how these must be met and treated. This has given 
us a new era in teaching. 



IQQ CONVENTION NOKMAL MANUAL. 

SECTION III. 

The Beginners' Department. Ages 3, 4 and 5. 

CHARACTERISTICS. METHOD. 

I. Physical, 



1. 

2. 


Restless. 
Play apart. 


1. Varied program. 

2. Individual management. 

II. Mental. 


1. 
2. 

3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
.0. 


Superficial. 

Curious. 

Trustful. 

Dependent. 

Imitative. 

Imaginative. 

Few words. 

Non-reading. 

Interests few. 

Self-centered. 


1. No appeal to experience. 

2. Appeal to curiosity. 

3. Win confidence. 

4. Plan for its needs. 

5. Watch your example. 

6. Help the child use it. 

7. Test your work. 

8. Use Beginners' Literature. 

9. Illustrate from home life. 
10. Personal teaching. 

III. Religious. 


1. 
2. 
3. 


Impressionable. 
Religious. 
Home life. 


1. Well planned program. 

2. Lay foundations. 

3. Win home co-operation. 



IV. Teaching Material. 

1. Bible stories illustrated; material furnished in the Begin- 
ners' Literature. 

2. Bits of Bible verses, as arranged in Beginners' Literature 
and Supplemental Lessons. These are to be carefully explained 
or *'developed" — illustrated from home life. 

V. Organization and Program. 

The Beginners' Department must be separate from the roain 
Primary. If possible, have a separate room ; at least, have 
a curtain. Some departments have the opening song and 
prayer service and word of greeting with the main Primaries. 
In some schools they are entirely separate. Everywhere they 
should be separated from their particular teaching. 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. ]^07 

During their teaching, the separate grades, or years, are 
grouped in circles, the teacher seated in the circle. The 
program is composed of greetings to all ; welcome to new pupils ; 
prayer ; the Supplemental lesson ; the offering ; the Bible story 
for the morning, and good-byes. 

Physical Chaeacteristics. 

1. The child is growing. This means restlessness ; ^ye say 
the child is "jadgety.'' This is nature's provision against one- 
sided development. Teacher, understand this and seek to direct 
the activity ; not to repress it. Spend no time in saying, "Be 
still," but plan so as to relieve the strain of attention. It is 
stated scientifically that a child cannot pay attention longer 
than six or eight minutes at one time, hence the foolishness of 
attempting to teach for thirty minutes continuously. A wisely 
planned program for Beginners would comprise several five 
or six-minute periods of teaching, each period followed by a 
song, march or relaxation exercise. There should be little 
chairs, or little benches, so the children can be comfortable. 

2. The child plays, at this age, without any special aim, and 
apart from its fellows. It has no sense of organization. Its 
thoughts are all individual, hence the teaching and manage- 
ment in the Sunday-school should be on the basis of the indi- 
vidual. Grade department by years, with a teacher for each 
year. This makes possible giving individual attention to each 
child. 

Mental Characteristics. 

1. The child is superficial. Its memory of experiences is 
fleeting ; it knows little of continuous action. It has practi- 
cally no historic sense. The teacher tries to make an impres- 
sion rather than to teach many facts ; tries to catch the atten- 
tion and fix it for a moment upon some great principle or 
truth. 

2. Scold a child for asking ''ichat is thatf To the child 



108 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

everything is new; it is hungry to know. This God-given in- 
stinct is the "mother of education." Stimulate it; use it, 
"What is this in my hand?" or "Once upon a time," and you 
have their attention ; then teach. Pictures, objects, the black- 
board, the story are the teachers' instruments. Tell the story 
up to the interesting point, then show the picture; or on the 
blackboard draw the outline of the picture as you tell the 
story. Do you use the large picture roll ? And do the children 
lose interest in it? They looked through it the first Sunday; 
their curiosity is satisfied. Hide it ; keep it at home. Bring 
the picture for the day only. 

3. The child, by nature, trusts. Credulity has been called 
the "charm of childhood." The child's sensitive soul is open 
to any impression. Touch the heart of a child and years can- 
not efface the imprint. Teacher, plan to win the confidence 
of the child; with it comes affection. This forms the basis 
for teaching a higher truth. From the experience of the child 
draw illustrations of trust and affection, then easily and 
naturally lead into the teachings of love and trust of the 
Heavenly Father. 

4. The child is dependent. In the home it must be cared 
for. So, too, in the Sunday-school. Hence the need of class 
teachers or helpers in the Primary Department. Some one 
must help with the wraps, hats and umbrellas. The child feels 
its dependence and is willing to be helped and directed. With 
this fact in mind, and using illustrations from the child's own 
experience, the teacher teaches the higher lesson of depend- 
ence upon the Heavenly Father, and His willingness to care 
for us. 

5. The child is a ''mimic.'' It delights to act out all it sees 
and knows. What the teacher does and says will be lived 
over every day of the coming week. How careful the teacher 
must be to make the righf impressions. Do nothing that the 
children ought not to imitate. The program must be care- 
fully planned with this in mind. The "atmosphere" must 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. ]^09 

lead to reverence, quietness, worship. Reverence! Bow the 
head reverently ! Handle the Bible reverently ! Take the 
offering reverently ! Know that the smile or frown even will 
make its impression. 

6. The child's imagination is the teacher's great vantage 
ground in teaching. It is hungry ; feed it. With Beginners, it 
is "imagination run riot;" at times it is almost fancy. Feed it 
with teaching that will bring it down out of the clouds ; it 
needs the help of the concrete, the knowledge of things, the 
support of sense-perception. Hence the imperative need of 
objects, pictures, blackboard and table. This faculty explains 
the child's love for the story. To be a good story teller is to 
be a king among children. Through imagination the child lives 
and moves with each character. Great Bible truths mean to 
the child only what the imagination lets them mean. The 
conception of Heaven and all associated with it depends 
upon the picture the imagination paints. 

7. The child knoivs very feio words. At this age, possibly not 
over 300. Consequently, it has but few definite ideas. It 
sadly confuses words with ideas. It thinks butter grows 
in buttercups ; honey in honeysuckles. It thinks in objects, 
pictures, sounds, but with little idea of the relation of words 
to these things. Hence, its limited attention when the teacher 
is "just talking,'' and its interest when the teacher shows 
things. The teacher's task is to talk in the child's vocabulary. 
To talk within the few words children know — is this easy? 
It requires an expert, or a "trained teacher." And this teacher 
must test her work, at each step, correcting the false impres- 
sions. 

8. The Beginner is non-reading. The teaching must be 
adapted to a non-reading child. The teacher should use the 
series of lessons outlined for Beginners, and it would help much 
to know something of kindergarten methods of teaching. This 
child wants to see, hear and examine with its hands. Feed 
the senses. Lead it to perceive, compare and construct. The 



WQ COINTENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

teacher should expect no home study, but should seek for much 
home co-operation from the mothers. 

9. The child's interests are feiv, hut very real What to 
the adult means nothing, to the child means all the world. 
Its joys and sorrows are intense. Be sympathetic. Spare the 
feelings. Appeal to the emotional nature only when necessary 
to make the deepest impression. Did the child cry while you 
told the story? Yes, its heart was most broken as it lived out 
the scene — in its imagination. But the child's interests furnish 
the "point of contact" for the teacher; she must know them. 

10. The child is self-centered. Its little world is bounded by 
the personal pronoun, "I," *'me," "mine.'* "My" Sunday-school, 
"my teacher," "my moon," "my" everything. The teacher 
knows this, and makes the teaching very personal. It is an 
easy transition from "my father" to "my Heavenly Father;" 
from "my home" to *'my Heavenly home." In the child is 
seen the germ of unselfishness, because it loves companions ; in 
due time, through development of the will, the self-centered child 
becomes the self-sacrificing young man or woman. 

Religious Characteristics. 

1. In general, the child is easily impressed by religious 
teaching. In the Beginners' class the chief work is to make 
impressions. Personality of the teacher counts mightily. Sun- 
day is the great day in the child's week. Song service, prayer 
service, the class and the teacher make a lasting impression. 
During the week the child's play reflects the impressions made. 
With companions and dollies, it plays Sunday-school. Close 
watching will reveal the spirit of the teacher, whether quiet 
master of the situation with a well-arranged program, or ner- 
vous and poorly prepared. 

2. More specifically, the child is religious. Not a Christian, 
but naturally religious. Its heart is filled with reverence. 
Already it has a sense of the unseen power in wind, thunder 
and nature in general. Teacher, teach that this is God. Its 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. W"]^ 

mind and lie«irt respond to religious teaching ; in time, 
under proper influences, it will become a Christian. The 
teacher's great privilege is to lay the foundations for this. 

3. The teacher is greatly helped hij Icnoicing the home life 
of the children. Know the influences that work for and 
against religious teaching. Environment is not everything, but 
it is much in either direction. It has been described as "so 
many hands that pull up or down." Since illustrations that 
illustrate must come chiefly from the home life, much of the 
teacher's skill will depend upon this knowledge. Happy is the 
teacher who has the co-operation of a Christian home. 



SECTION IV. 

The Primary Department. Ages 6, 7, 8. 

CHAKACTEEISTICS. METHOD. 

I. Physical. 

1. Activity. 1. Direct toward ends. 

2. Play together. 2. Cultivate co-operation. 

3. Habit formation. 3. Utilize first opportunity. 

II. Mentah 

1. Vocabulary. 1. Test work by questions. 

2. Attention. 2. Teach along child's interest. 

3. Imagination. 3. Large use of story. 

4. Imitation. 4. Teach Bible biography. 

5. Curiosity. 5. Show things. 

6. Object teaching. 6. Use to illustrate facts. 

7. No historic sense. 7. Omit connections. 

8. Memory. 8. Drill on select passages. 

9. Will power. 9. Constantly seek to develop. 

III. Religious. 

1. Prayer. 1. Teach true spirit of prayer. 

2. Worship. 2. Lead into real worship. 

3. Conversion. 3. A possibility ; welcome it. 

IV. Teaching Material. 
Objects, pictures, simple truths, simple duties, selected verses 
and longer passages to be ''developed," then drilled on until 
known. 



]^X2 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

Impressions, such as obedience, reverence, worship ; impres- 
sions vrhich are the outcome of the stories used. 

The concrete rather than the abstract, leading to ultimate 
expression iij hand work, music and songs. 

V. Organization and Program. 

Have a Primary Department with a superintendent. If pos- 
sible, have a separate room ; at least have a curtained-off 
space. Grade the pupils by years. Have a teacher for each year. 
If the numbers are large, subdivide the years, and have a 
teacher for each group or class. Ideal classes number 10 or 12. 

The superintendent will conduct from the desk such general 
exercises as the opening and closing, and direct the relaxation 
exercises. Also the superintendent will teach the entirl^ clepart- 
ment the lesson story. The class teachers teach to the separate 
classes the supplemental work and review of the lesson story. 

The program must consist of brief periods of teaching fol- 
lowed by relaxation exercises. Much variety is possible here. 
The essentials of the program are: The opening service of 
song, prayer and greetings ; the supplemental work taught to 
the separate classes ; relaxation ; the lesson story ; relaxation ; 
the review of lesson story; closing. 

Physical Characteristics. 

1. Activity. Growing in body and in mind, the Primary 
pupil has immense energy to be directed. In the Beginner, it is 
pure restlessness ; in the Primary pupil it is possible, to some 
extent, to direct it toward useful ends. Each succeeding year 
in the life of the child shows an advance in the possibility to 
organize this activity, and from it to get results. Teacher, plan 
for two things : to relieve the strain on the attention by pro- 
viding relaxation exercises, or ''escape valves for pent-up 
energy" — through songs, marches, gestures or change of posi- 
tion ; and, to make these exercises teach a needed lesson. The 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 1]^3 

same truth may be taught by pictures, and story and song. 
A list of such songs, marches, etc., can be found in any book 
on Primary worli. 

In general it may be said that a primary program will have 
at least three periods of teaching ; the supplemental lesson, 
followed by a rest exercise ; the story of the regular lesson 
of the day, followed by a rest exercise ; the review of the 
story by the different classes, or grades, and the class teachers, 
followed by the closing service. 

2. Play. School life is now" coming along to shape the child's 
thinking. The play feature of day school helps develop habits 
of co-operation and friendly rivalry. So, in Sunday-school, 
the grades or classes will sing or march, or recite together. 
The 'fellowship service" with joined hands while a w^elcome 
is extended the new pupil or returned absentee — goes far 
toward developing the altruistic spirit; this is a much needed 
lesson for the naturally self-centered child. 

3. Hadit Formation. In childhood, when the nervous sys- 
tem is plastic, nine-tenths of all simple habits are formed. The 
majority of our movements are the result of habit — purely 
mechanical ; such as dressing, eating, meetings and partings, 
and common salutations. Business and professional habits are 
formed after the age of twenty. 

Hubbell says : "It is now accepted that habit has a physical 
basis. It is dependent upon molecular changes in the brain, 
or to speak crudely, upon paths through w^hich nervous force 
makes its escape when nerves are excited. These paths are 
like channels which water cuts for itself when it falls upon a 
pile of sand." An oft-repeated thought or act cuts a "channel" 
so deep that it is seemingly impossible to do differently, and 
the poor sufferer admits, "I am a slave to this habit." With 
these facts in mind, the teacher's opportunity is apparent. 



1^^ conventioist normal manual. 

Mental Characteristics. 

1. Voca'bulary. The vocabulary of the Primary pupil is still 
amited, although with the older pupils, it is a marked advance 
over that of the Beginners' pupil. However, at each step the 
teacher must test the work by close questioning. Have the 
children give back v/hat has been taught them. See if the 
right impression has been made by your words. If they sim- 
ply do not understand the word, no harm is done, although it 
is poor teaching ; but be sure that no wrong impression has 
been made. A teacher taught one morning that Jesus was a 
Jew. One little fellow went home highly indignant, and with 
his feelings much hurt. He told his mother that he would 
never love Jesus again, if it was true that He was a "Sheeney !" 
The child's only meaning for "Jew" was the common word of 
the boys on the street. 

2. Attention. The power of rendering voluntary attention 
is growing in the Primary period. Ideas are becoming 
less confused; the meaning of words more clearly related to 
ideas. Day school studies have given a new interest to words 
and books in general. However, the concrete, the appeal to the 
eye, the use of things that can be handled must be the rule 
throughout the Primary years. Take advantage of the awak- 
ened interest in the relation of words to things, and make 
large use of the abundant material furnished for object work. 
Remember that attention follows interest. Not only use the 
visible thing for getting attention and for illustrating the teach- 
ing, but lead the children to do the simpler kinds of hand 
work. Little ones are taught lessons of God's care and good- 
ness by bringing fruit, flowers and branches into the class 
and allowing the child to handle them. A teacher had her 
children make little books of the lesson cards ; a book for each 
life, as Joseph, or Moses ; she furnished the blank sheets, all 
the same size ; they pasted the pictures on, printing above them 
the subjects of the lessons. Another teacher had taught the 
text, *'Every good gift cometh down from the Father." She 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 1J5 

gave the children sheets of tablet-paper and asked them to cut 
out of papers and magazines the pictures of things they knew 
to be God's good gifts to them. One child brought the sheet 
back with, pasted on it, pictures of flowers, fruits, the horse, 
the little chickens, little brothers and sisters, and a child at 
prayer. Such work shows the teacher how well the child 
grasped the teaching ; it makes the "truth channel" deeper, 
and proves that the impression has found a due expression. 
These little books or lesson cards, and the collection of pictures 
may be sent to the hospitals, or to our missionaries for their 
children, thus serving a larger purpose. 

3. Imagination, The imagination is now in the height of 
its power ; still golden and gorgeous, but becoming more sane, 
more constructive. The knowledge so rapidly being gained 
through the senses has combined w^ith the individuality of the 
child ; originality is being manifest. Boys and girls of the older 
Primary years can construct a really good story. The teacher 
constantly appeals to the imagination as an aid in teaching. 
It alone can supply the richness of coloring and abundance of 
simile that belong to the fancy of the Oriental mind. It alone 
can take the story out of its Hebrew setting and apply it to 
our modern American life ; it alone can make ample and rich 
the simple framework, which too often is all that is given. 
The teacher of children in the Sunday-school must join the . 
Story Teller's League. Study and practice story-telling. Do 
not starve the imagination. The Bible is a rich storehouse of 
material. Every lesson must center in a story. Some lessons 
do not yield easily to the story form of teaching. This taxes 
the teacher's skill. Take a simple truth out of the whole les- 
son and arrange your story to teach it. 

4. Imitation. Since the individuality of the child is now 
beginning to assert itself, imitation is not "blind," as in the 
Beginner's period. Yet it is all the more real ; it is an index 
to character. It reflects the real nature or "bent" of the child ; 
they imitate what they admire. The story is the teacher's 



1\Q CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

means of causing the child to admire and imitate worthy char- 
acters. If you wish to stir heroism, ply the youth with great 
epochs and hours in the lives of the world's great men. The 
biography of the Bible is rich in tales of heroism and stories 
of courage which will greatly influence conduct and develol> 
character. The lives of missionaries Yates, Judson, and others 
furnish abundant material. 

5. Curiosity. The child is possessed with a mental hunger 
like its bodily hunger ; it is constant ; it must be fed. Edison, 
when a boy, tore to pieces everything of his father's that 
*'worked." The question wuth children of this age is not only 
"What," but "Why," and "How\" Hence they like to see into 
things ; to build up and tear down ; to watch the process of 
construction. So, make a map of Palestine in the sand tray ; 
build the miniature temple ; show a model of the Oriental 
house ; teach the parable of the Sower, having boxes of the 
four kinds of earth. Any crude drawing will cause the chil- 
dren to ask, "What is that?" Then teach, strike while the iron 
is hot. 

6. Teaching 'by Objects. The primary teacher, if effective, 
must make large use of objects. How do children le?rn? 
Through the eye they learn 85 per cent of what they know. 
The wise teacher is not still using the 15 per cent method. 

• Combine the two — the object and the story — and get results. 
Caution. Do not overdo it. Do not get a doll and a bath tub 
to teach Moses in the bulrushes. Let your illustration be nat- 
ural. Let the object illustrate a fact — not a spiritual truth. 
Children do not think in the abstract; they cannot "spiritual- 
ize." Only the mature mind will make the transition from 
material to spiritual. So let the objects, pictures, models, 
etc., be just what they look to be : Fruits ; God's good gifts ; the 
temple — simply a little temple ; the picture, a real picture of 
Nazareth. A teacher used a loaf of bread in teaching the text, 
"I am the Bread of Life." The child told its mother thai the 
teacher said Jesus was a loaf of bread. 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. WJ 

7. In this department not much teaching should be done 
nlong historic lines ; that is to saj^, children have little his- 
torical sense. Geography has little value. They have not yet 
reached the time when they can hold in mind the connection 
between the various events which make up the life of Jesus or 
the Book of Acts. Memory is not yet in its "golden period." 
The teaching, then, is largely for the moment, and deals with 
the story for the day. 

8. The memory at this period is 'becoming tenacious. It is 
still haphazard to a degree. Do not wonder if your pupil re- 
members what he least needs and forgets the rest. Memory, 
like other gifts, must be cultivated. Teacher, seek to have 
them learn the choice memory verses of the Bible, which, if 
learned now, will never be forgotten ; hence the necessity for 
much drill work. This memory work sliould be coupled with 
teaching the meaning of the words ; and explaining the thought 
involved, or as is commonly said, the teacher "develops" the 
work before the memorizing is completed. The skillful primary 
teacher teaching the twenty-third Psalm, takes each separate 
sentence, makes plain the meaning, then drills the class until 
they know it. This is ideal ; however not all Scripture which 
children should memorize can be thus "developed." Passages 
whose general meaning they can understand should be taught. 
The knowledge of certain words will come later. The Supple- 
mental Lessons are graded by years, each year an advance 
upon the former. They furnish teachers with abundant and 
well selected material for drill work. 

9. Will Poiver begins to be prominent in this period. The 
self-centered child has grown a bit out of its narrow circle and 
the Will is becoming strong. If the training has l)een proper, 
the unselfish spirit will be developing. The great point is that 
we are coming now into the age of decision, when positive 
choices must be made. The stubborn Will must be conquered. 
It is the wise teacher who uses stories and Bible truths to help 
the pupil win over the ugly temper, or the unselfish spirit, and 
to plant in its place self-control and love for others. ' 



118 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

SECTION V. 

The Juniors. Ages 9, 10, 11, 12. 

CHARACTERISTICS. METHOD. 

/. Physical, 

1. Activity. 1. Variety. 

2. Play. 2. Index to congeniality. 

//. Mental. 

1. Real study. 1. Assign definite tasks. 

2. Memory. 2. Drill on memory passages. 

3. Interest. 3. Quicken by pre-view. 

4. Sees relations. 4. Relate _.tasks to honors. 

5. Frankness. 5. Be dead in earnest. 

6. Collection craze. 6. Collect facts. 

7. The concrete. 7. Have class do and make 

things. 

III. Religious, 

1. First wave of conviction. 1. Be alert. Utilize it. 

2. Character fixing. 2. Shape it. 

3. Ideals. 3. Hold up worthy examples. 

IV. Teaching Material. 

Make much of two things: Bible characters and memory 
work. Drill away ! Drill away ! ! Drill away ! ! ! Now is the 
getting time. See to it that they get it. 

V. Organization. 

Group the classes of Juniors together and appoint one teach- 
er as superintendent of the department. Create a depart- 
ment. Stimulate departmental *'esprit de corps.'' Set the su- 
perintendent and teachers of the department, with the classes, 
to build up the department. The superintendent and teachers 
will study together the needs, plan to work out the problems, 
secure other needed teachers, and become experts. 

If the department can have a separate room, a delightful 
program is possible. The classes may join in songs, prayer, 
drill work, and general exercises of all kinds. The teaching 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 1X9 

is done in separate classes. Each class should be grouped 
about a table, making it easy to use Bibles, pads and pencils, 
and all forms of hand work. 

The greatest lack in the average Sunday-school is the lack 
of a well organized and progressive Junior Department — and 
we wonder why we cannot hold boys and girls in our Sunday- 
school ! The splendid work of the Primary Department dissi- 
pates and is in large measure lost unless there is a Junior De- 
partment to conserve results. 

Physical Characteristics. 

1. Activity. Pupils of this department are no longer little 
children ; they are real boys and girls. The dependence of the 
child has given place to independence. By all means, call them 
"Boys" and "Girls." 

Growing in body and mind, no two years of this period 
are alike. The advance made in each succeeding year is far 
greater than in any single previous year. The problem of ac- 
tivity still confronts the teacher ; upon its solution will depend 
the larger part of the success in teaching. Hence the necessity 
for close grading by years, and for a separate teacher for each 
particular year. 

Given proper grading, the teacher must plan to have them 
work out their activity to useful ends. Variety leading to unity 
is the key to the problem. Many forms of variety are easily 
possible, as objects, stories, blackboard illustrations, pictures; 
Bible drills, searching for passages and facts ; pad-and-pencil 
work by which each pupil reproduces what the teacher puts 
on the board ; lap boards for the same purpose ; sand maps, 
where possible. The true teacher spends most of the time in 
leading Boys and Girls to get information for themselves. The 
busier they are kept in their quest, the easier they are man- 
aged. How futile to sit and simply talk to them ! No use to 
say, "I told you about it and you ought to know it." Telling 
boys and girls is not necessarily teaching them. 



3^20 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

2. Play. Congeniality is the key to grading. Play is the 
index to congeniality. Boys and girls of Junior age do not 
play together. In the Sunday-school they must be in separate 
classes if we are to hold them. Because they have not been 
separated, we have been losing from the Sunday-school seventy- 
five per cent of the boys and sixty per cent of th6 girls. Upon 
promotion from the Primary Department, they must be sepa- 
rated ; this separation continues until middle life. Men should 
teach boys, and women, girls. If this is impossible for all the 
grades of the Junior Department, by all means make it so in 
the last two years. 

3. Class Organization. In the last year or two of the Junior 
Department, some teachers have harnessed the activity of their 
classes and, in a measure, directed it through the very sim- 
plest forms of class organization. Such as visiting the sick, 
carrying literature or flowers, distributing invitations or an- 
nouncements, constituting the class into a Cadet Corps to run 
errands for pastor or superintendent. The secret is in assign- 
ing each one his task ; not much team work is possible here. 
The boys or girls of this age want to "show off;" want to be 
recognized individually. They must "outdo" in everything ; they 
like companions simply to strive with and win over. A teacher 
attempted to elect a president of a class of this age; she found 
every member of the class a candidate and working for the 
election ! 

Mental Characteristics. 

1. Real Study. Boys and girls of this age are reading with 
ease. They are accustomed to study, hence the Sunday-school 
teacher leads them to real study of the Bible, testing their 
work. They are in the period indicated by the word "Get," 
therefore direct their getting. Lead them into real acquisition 
of knowledge. Much should be made of their reading the Bible, 
especially the biographies. Plan with them for a little reading 
every day. Form the blessed habit of daily Bible reading. 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. J^21 

2. Memory. This is the time for memory work. The height 
of the memory period ; the pupil, now, can be assigned a definite 
task of memory work. Teacher, put it in. Each year has its 
definite Supplemental Course, which is work to be memorized. 
Assign it ; expect it to be done ; call for it ; commend results. 
The first five minutes of the teaching period each Sunday 
should be given to the drill of the work assigned. Unlucky is 
the scholar whose teacher will not be faithful to this task. If 
the scholar does not get it now, he will never get it so that it is 
his own. 

3. Interest. Memory brings with it ability to see relations, 
and develops the historical sense. This makes possible the sus- 
taining of interest throughout a course of study. A year in the 
Old Testament or in the historical portions in the New Testa- 
ment ought not to become a dreary task. However, teacher, 
quicken interest, and help to sustain it, by keeping constantly 
before the scholars the plan for the year's work. Arrange a 
preview in diagram or outline, showing the course as made up 
by quarters, each quarter having a definite plan of study. The 
year's work is a rope made up of four strands. The scholars 
see the relation which each Sunday's lesson bears to the work 
of the quarter, and the relation of each quarter's work to the 
work of the year. A well understood plan for the quarter with 
a definite plan for each Sunday's work should be the working 
program of the teacher. 

4. Relations. Juniors can see the relation between work and 
awards for work, hence this is the age for recognition and pro- 
motions. Assign a definite task and recognize or give credit 
for the w^ork done. Promotion day is constantly mentioned in 
connection with the Supplemental work. It is poor ethics to 
give prizes. The honor roll is better than a prize. The public 
recognition, which simply gives honor to whom honor is due, 
is a greater stimulus than an award of intrinsic value. Re- 
member, the Junior craves emulation ; must climb up and up, 
or leave the school ! So, appeal to this charactertistic ; give it 



122 CONVENTION NOKMAL MANUAL. 

a prominent place. The Promotion certificate and public rec- 
ognition of work done will make "Promotion Day" the great 
event of the year for the Juniors. 

5. Frankness. Juniors look you straight in the eye. They 
want no shams, no glazing over things; they know what is 
straight and honest. Stories? Yes, but not fairy stories any 
more. They know about Santa Glaus. They are "matter-of- 
fact." Give the boy Samson and the Philistines ; Gideon and 
the three hundred; Daniel in the lions' den. Try a 
fairy tale next Sunday and watch that keen-eyed youngster 
listen until you are about half through, then nudge his neigh- 
bor and whisper, '*mush!" A ten-year-old's grandmother was 
insisting that he sit and hear her read to him from the Bible. 
He said: "I will, if you will read the -fighUngest story in it.^ 
Their sense of honor and justice is high. Don't forget your 
promise ; they will not. Be honest and frank in all dealings 
with them. 

6. Making Collections. This is the age of fads, the age of 
collections, as indicated in the word "get." Look in that boy's 
pockets — he has a little museum with him. Glance into that 
girl's room and see the walls lined with pictures, postcards, 
souvenirs, decorations of all kinds. The Sunday-school teacher 
directs this faculty to a practical end. The class has a mu- 
seum of curios from Palestine. They have a scrap book of pic- 
tures illustrating the various scenes in Bible lands. They study 
missions and make a scrap book on China, one on Japan, etc. 
Into the book on Temperance they paste pictures, stories 
and facts gathered from magazines, newspapers, or anywhere 
such things can be found. No more practical or lasting infor- 
mation can be gotten. 

7. The Concrete. This is the age of the concrete, yet with 
more interest than formerly shown in the abstract. The schol- 
ars are interested in facts before principles, but will under- 
stand some simple principles. They are interested in men and 
their deeds, in the man behind the deed, yet the concrete should 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 123 

be ever prominent The blackboard with its diagrams, its 
names, its simple sentences is an ever ready instrument of 
teaching. Hand work by the pupil holds attention and fixes 
it on the truth. Pads and pencils are easily managed; lap- 
boards are popular. Have them copy sentences, names of the 
lesson characters, hymns, names of the books of the Bible, etc. 
Tell the story and allow five minutes for them to write it, 
or draw a picture of it. Can you have a sand table? Have 
them make the map ; tell the parable of the Sower, and have 
them arrange the hard path, the stony ground, the shallow and 
the good soil. Preserve the pad work of each Sunday, and at 
the close of the quarter arrange it tastefully, by lessons, and 
review by it ; leave it up until prayer meeting night and 
invite the parents of the class to inspect it. Let the class act 
as guides for the visitors, explaining the work. 

Religious Characteeistics. 

• 1. Conviction. In this period, especially in the last half 
of it, comes the first great wave of religious conviction. As 
ambitions of every kind are stirring the soul, it is not strange 
that the ambitions toward God should find a great place. How 
carefully the teacher should watch and pray for the indications 
of this great experience in the life. One Sunday, the boy or 
girl is careless and unconcerned. Before the next Sunday, they 
are in the midst of this wave of conviction, and they are ear- 
nest and hungry in spirit. Wise is the teacher who looks for 
this from Sunday to Sunday and improves the opportunity 
when it is presented. Do not say, "You are too young," or, "You 
are not good enough." Open your Bible ^ shotv tliem the way, 
lead them to Christ. A child can be converted; when the Holy 
Spirit -first calls is the best time, only be sure you lead them to 
C hirst before leading them into the Church. The teacher in 
this period must be a kind of interpreter of religious 
experiences. If the boys and girls do not know what it 
means, the wise teacher does know and leads them to under- 



124 CONVENTIOISr NORMAL MANUAL. 

stand and realize it all. Little Samuel came to Eli saying, 
"Surely thou didst call me." Old Eli, knowing what had hap- 
pened, sent the child back, saying, "If the voice calls again an- 
swer. Here am I, Lord." Eli interpreted to Samuel the reli- 
gious experiences of the hour. This is the teacher's highest 
privilege. Do not be blind or indifferent to it. 

2. Characters are not fixed in tliis period. Ambitions to be 
something are beginning to stir. The teacher's privilege is to 
stimulate the heart and mind to 'do its best. Direct the activ- 
ities and possibilities of the young life, help crowd out the 
evil by filling in the heart and mind with the good. Personal 
influences and responsibilities play a great part here. Be a 
friend to your pupil. Know the individual and make your 
teaching as personal as possible. This is the basis for the 
suggestion that if possible a man should teach boys and a 
woman should teach girls. A man cannot enter into the expe- 
riences of a girl, never having had them. The same is true of 
a woman for boys. 

3. In this period we have a strange Mending of the emo- 
tional nature ivith the imaginative nature. The advanced pu- 
pils in this department will begin to have their ideals. The 
heroes and heroines of history and literature play a great part 
in their thinking. They can admire extravagantly. They are 
seeking to imitate those whom they admire. The teacher's priv- 
ilege is to lead them to know the great characters of the Bible 
and to seek to follow the good in their lives. 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS, 125 

SECTION VI. 

The Intermediate Department. Ages 13, 14, 15. 

CHARACTEKISTICS. METHOD. 

I. Physical. 

1. Great physical changes. 1. Patience, sympathy, personal 

"I'hysiological second hirth." teaching. 

2. Nervous system at high ten- 2. Calm, firm management. . 

sion. 

3. Brain full grown. 3. Teach application. 

II. Mental. 

1. Self-conscious. 1. Shield from the public. 

2. Capricious in thinking. 2. Be prepared for the unex- 

pected. 

3. Self-sufficient. 3. Recognize the good. 

4. Team-work. 4. Organize the class for work. 

5. Keason. 5. Stimulate use of. 

III. Religious. 

1. Great conversion age. 1. Make the way plain. 

2. Age of doubt. 2. Teach the "Why." 

IV. Teaching Material. 

Bible History, Biography, Poetry, Choice Memory Passages, 
Duties. Teachings as to Repentance, Faith — ^Yith personal 
appeal to accept Christ. Teachings as to Missions, Temper- 
ance, Giving, Purity of Living. 

V. Organization. 

Separate boys from girls. Boys should be taught by men, 
who will think back to their experiences of this period and 
will sympathize with their scholars. On the same basis girls 
should be taught by women. 

Classes should be small, not exceeding eight to twelve, if pos- 
sible, so the teaching may be personal 'and definite. Classes 
should be in separate rooms or at least behind curtains or 
screens. The teacher should be a soul- winner and have favor- 
able conditions for personal work. 



12Q CONVEI^TION NORMAL MANUAL. 

The teacher does well to be a friend and companion of the 
pupils as far as possible. Invite them to the home. Visit them 
in their homes. Outings and picnics afford great opportu- 
nities for companionship and confidential chats. 

Organize the classes. Give them a name, motto, pin, officers 
and the necessary committees. Have reports each Sunday. 
Keep a definite aim before them; each Sunday mark the 
progress toward it. 

Physical Characteristics. 

This is the adolescent period, or, strictly speaking, "Early 
Adolescence." 

The drain at this period reaches its final stage and stops 
growing. The Jieart increases in size; arteries enlarge. These 
conditions affect the entire life, both physical and mental. In 
childhood the arteries are to the heart as 25 is to 20. In this 
period the arteries are to the heart as 140 is to 50. In man- 
hood, arteries are to the heart as 290 is to 60, thus showing 
the ^enormous development in adolescence as compared with 
childhood and manhood. 

Muscular development is also prominent. ^ The trunk 
greatly elongates, the limbs reach practically their full 
growth, hence the awkwardness of the adolescent. These 
changes must produce natural effects. The adolescent is ill 
at ease and careless. The growth of the limbs necessi- 
tates constantly changing manners and dress. Laziness so often 
noticed in youths of this age is directly the result of physical 
changes and must be taken into account by the teacher. The 
entire being is undergoing a transformation. The adolescent 
hardly knows himself — the teacher, understanding these things, 
must be very patient, very careful not to offend. The sad- 
dest thing in the life of any adolescent is the taunting and 
teasing which they undergo in the home life, because parents 
and friends are ignorant of these wonderful changes. Sym- 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. \27 

pa thy and help ought to be the watchword of the teacher and 
parent. 

Mental Characteristics. 

1. ScIf-co)2Sciousness. Because of the unsettled condition 
of things, mental and physical, the rapid growth of the body, 
the consequent awkwardness and general ill-at-ease feeling, the 
youth becomes shy, bashful and retiring. Boys will hardly 
consent to recite or appear alone on a program. Girls will 
sing with the class, but hardly render solos. Have a separate 
room ; at least shield the class by using curtains or screens. 

2. The adolescent is capricious; lacks steadiness of aim; 
is a "bundle of contradictions." The mind is filled with vague 
uncertainties ; day-dreams and longings of heart and soul are 
characteristics of the pupil. The wise teacher must expect the 
tinexpectecl. The teacher knows that the trend of mind and 
thought each Sunday will depend largely on what has happened, 
in the life, since last Sunday. The boys have heard a great 
orator, and in their day-dreams they will be greater than 
Demosthenes. If they have heard a great cornetist, likely they 
are already practicing to outstrip Sousa. If they have seen 
a ciicus likely they have been practicing the tricks of the 
clown. Their thoughts and ambitions temporarily are shaped 
by the thing which last impressed them. The girl will be 
dreamy, reminiscent and inattentive in the class. Why? Be- 
cause she has read a book ; has fallen in love with the hero ; 
her mind is fixed on the castle, and the gardens, in which in 
imagination she is walking, and of w^hich she is to become 
queen. In no period of life should the teacher be a more pains- 
taking student of the pupil's life than here. 

3. Self-sufficiency. While they are self-conscious, as above 
stated, yet there is a decided tendency to lord it over creation. 
This is because of the stirring of manhood and womanhood 
in the life. The boy's face is toward manhood. To all prac- 
tical purposes, in body, thought, dress, ideals and ambitions, 



]^28 convejS^tioin- normal manual. 

he is a man. The same is true in kind with the girl ; her face 
is toward womanhood ; she is no longer a girl pure and simple, 
but a young woman, and must be treated as such. This con- 
sciousness of power gives rise to the spirit of egotism, which 
is the assertion of self-hood; to the braggadocial spirit; to a 
spirit of daring akin to recklessness. Many a thing is done 
purely upon impulse. Back of it is no evil intention. The ado- 
lescent is not criminally responsible for many things that he 
does. He is simply trying a new idea ; if wrong, he is sorry. 
This will throw light upon the treatment which many of these 
ought to receive. 

4. Cooperation, or the ''gang idea,'' is becoming prominent. 
More of the altruistic spirit is to be observed. The altruist is 
a hero and is willing to sacrifice himself for certain causes ; 
is willing to put down his own selfish desires for the good of 
the class or the cause ; hence the possibility of class organiza- 
tion. *'Team-work" appeals to the youth. Self is subordinated 
to the good of the whole. A strong social interest is under- 
neath this. "Hitherto, he has been a ward of society ; hence- 
forth he will be a meniber.'' So, organize the class ; separate 
boys and girls ; give them a chance at team-work. It is the 
foolish teacher who attempts to call the roll ; take the offering ; 
answer all the questions ; do all the studying ; get all the new 
pupils ; look up all the absentees — be the "whole thing" in a 
class of adolescents. 

The teacher's task is to find things for them to work at. 
Keep a definite, useful aim before them ; teach them how to 
plan and work out results. 

5. This period is characterized by the dawning of reason. 
Memory, of course, has not faded away, but reason has become 
prominent in the life. Memory, cultivated in the years preced- 
ing, is at white heat, and is capable of tremendous feats. How- 
ever, the adolescent sees the relation between things; is inter- 
ested in analogies ; collects things in order to classify them ; 
likes checkers or chess ; is glad to have a puzzle or problem 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. J 29 

in language, in mechanics, in mathematics, to work out. The 
teacher should recognize this fact and challenge the best in 
the mind of the pupil. Stimulate real interest in finding out 
things. Curiosity has crystalizd into genuine interest. 

The pupil of this period is a student or not, according to 
his interest in the subject. The teacher has much to contend 
with. Laziness is to be taken into account. Really, the pupil 
is kept busy grmving, and getting acquainted with himself and 
his new powers. Mere passive Bible teaching will certainly 
not meet the needs. Teaching must be objective, concrete, and 
personal. Deal with men and deeds. Teach the Bible as his- 
tory ; lead him to discover facts ; appeal to the dramatic ele- 
ment in his mind and life. 

Religious Characteristics. 

1. Adolescence has been called the period of ''Spiritual 
and Physical Second Birth.'' We have seen how the body un- 
dergoes such wonderful changes. What is true of the body is 
eminently true of the religious nature. This is the period of 
the second and third — the last — great leaves of conviction. The 
teacher should be constantly on the lookout for manifestations 
of this, and teach for a decision. The teacher's motto should 
be, "Make the way of salvation plain." What are these **day 
dreams' and "longings" for — but for God ; for the something 
great and inexpressible; for everything that human nature 
lacks? The only satisfaction to be had for this hungering of 
soul is found in the presence of God in the life. The teaching 
should be personal and definite. No soft religion ; no flowery 
beds of ease; but God as active, as a definite personality, and 
Christ as a personal Saviour. 

2. This is also the period of DoiiMs. It is easy to see how 
in this unsettled period doubts will creep in. The teacher's 
great task and privilege is to lead the pupil to grasp the 
truths of God's Book. Feed the hungry, wondering, doubting 
soul. Teach truth in its sweetness and purity, and fix the faith 

9 



]^30 CONVENTIOISr NORMAL MANUAL. 

SO that it will be strong against the forces of evil. Teach 
with certainty and authority. The boy will boldly demand 
"why." The girl wuU say, "I think differently." Remember, 
this is the real personality asserting itself. They are not 
necessarily impudent or wayward. They may even ask, "Why 
should I believe the Bible?" Then give the practical answer. 
Show what the Bible does for a life. Contrast those who love 
and live by it with those who do not. 

3. Conversion Age. Being the age of great conviction, it is 
of course the age of conversion. The fourteenth year is con- 
sidered the year of the greatest number of conversions. A 
study was made at a Southern Baptist Convention. The names 
of 1,587 people, with certain facts, were obtained. Of this 
number 989 were men. Their testimony was that 93 per cent 
were converted at the age of fourteen ; and of the 598 women, 
97.7 per cent were converted at or before that age. The teacher 
of the pupil of this period holds in his hand the greatest of- all 
spiritual possibilities — and responsibilities. 

Make a supreme effort to reach the unconverted. Find Christ 
in every lesson. Urge a personal acceptance of Him as Saviour. 
Make the Bible plan of salvation plain. Teach sin and its pun- 
ishment. Pray the Spirit to convict. Then teach how to trust 
Christ. Be satisfied with nothing short of a definite experience 
of repentance and faith. Resort to no "signing of cards" to 
indicate acceptance of Christ. Teach the w^ay and pray the 
Spirit to do His work. When conversion really comes, your 
pupil will not wish to hide the fact. 

4. In General. How deal with the adolescent? Sympathy 
and love must be the chief thing in the teacher's life. Be 
patient and expect the "unexpected," remembering that your 
adolescent is a "bundle of contradictions." Later on he will 
crystalize into a definite character, but what happens in his 
life during this period will largely shape that character when 
it is fixed. Great use must be made of praise and encourage- 
ment. Remember the self-conscious, shrinking, retiring nature 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 



131 



will respond to warm, genuine sympathy, praise and encour- 
agement. Scolding and criticism will strike deep and wound 
the heart. Seek to bring out the best. Sunshine and love will 
affect this best of all. The personal touch is essential. Be a 
friend ; be a personal friend, if possible, to your adolescent. 
This, of course, is bound up in the idea of sympathy. Let the 
pupil, whether boy or girl, realize that you are interested in 
him and his welfare. 



SECTION VII. 

The Sein^ior Department. Ages 16 to 20. 

CHARACTERISTICS. METHOD. 

I. Physical. 



1. Full rounded development. 

II. Mental, 



1. Direct powers through class 
organization. 



1. 


Independent thinking. 


1. 


2. 


Temptations. 


2. 


3*. 


Doubt. 


s'. 


4. 


Romance. 


4. 


5. 


Feelings and Will. 


5. 


G. 


Exacting. 


6. 


7. 


Comradeship. 


7. 



Consult : reason with them. 
Fix good foundations. 
Teach the truth. 
Make much of biography. 
Appeal to for right action. 
6. Be positive, yet courteous. 
Develop in class organization. 



III. Religious. 



1. Conversion less likely. 

2. Love of service. 

3. Self-sacrifice. 



1. Teach in desperate earnestness. 

2. Direct in class organization. 

3. Call for volunteers. 



IV. Teaching Material. 

Bible History, Biography, Doctrines, Missions, Temperance, 
Civic Righteousness, Stewardship ; use of Bible in overcoming 
temptations and in soul-winning. 



132 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

V. Organization, 

Separate young men from young women. Separate class room 
for each. Man to teach men ; woman to teach women. 

Organize after "Baraca" and "Philathea" idea. Use each man 
to build up the class and carry forward its enterprises. Do 
things. The teacher and officers of the class hold a monthly 
^'Council" to go carefully over the plans of work and the progress 
made. Don't work one plan to death. Change with the seasons. 
Don't overlook the man who sits on the back bench and never 
says anything. 

Physical Characteristics. 

In this period we find our pupils full grown young men and 
young women. The age limits comprise middle adolescence. 
Hence the later age limit, above, is given at 20. 

The body rounds out its full figure. The mind is in full 
strength. Muscular development indicates strength and en- 
durance. The voice has gotten its fixed tone. The method 
of dealing with young men and women must be adapted to 
their energy and ability. They do things all week long ; hence 
the organized class, on Sunday, leading them to have a hand 
in the Lord's work and do things for the Kingdom. The 
teacher of a class of pupils of this age must learn not to do 
things for them. Do not appeal to your pupil on the basis "We 
will help you." That embarrasses him. Say to him, ''Yoic can 
help us; we have work for a man like you." 

Mental Characteristics. 

1. This is the period of originality, of independent thinking. 
The teacher should appeal to this faculty, developing inde- 
pendent thought and investigation. They have convictions. 
They telieve what they do believe. A frank conference with 
the class as to how to study and teach the year's Sunday-school 
lessons will in many cases mean a delightful year's work. 
Have a question box on methods. Many suggestions may be 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 133 

given by the class. The teacher who teaches in the light of 
the needs and tastes of the pupil is the wisest teacher because 
most effective. Use the members of the class during the lesson 
teaching. Plan ahead. Have four men ask four hard ques- 
tions ; have four answers and four questions previously handed 
them. One points out the best verse. One the best truth. 
Lead the class to decide on a truth that fits home to every life. 

2. Here is the great struggle against temptations. Passions 
are strong. Too many still believe that young people must 
sow "wild oats." The sympathetic teacher will seek to lay 
firm foundations which will stand during the storm which is 
sure to come in every life. Fix the habit of daily prayer and 
Bible reading. Pledge the class to it. Call for results. 

3. Doubt. The climax of doubt for men is the age of 
eighteen; for women, sixteen. Let the teacher expect it, study 
the problem, and be ready. Here the skeptic and infidel are 
made. In the teacher's hand is the possibility of saving the 
life from years of unfruitful doub tings. Remember, doubt is 
not necessarily unbelief, at first. Belief and unbelief are fixe^. 
Doubt is half way between. The quick question, the unrest, 
the "kicking agains the pricks," mean that there is a struggle 
on to fix things. Help fix them right. Teach the truth. Fix 
foundations. Lead through honest investigation into the light. 

4. The romantic element is prominent in this period. The 
teaching of the lives of great characters in history offers a 
wide field. Aside from Bible characters, much interest can 
be aroused in the lives of Christian workers ; at home the lives 
of great reformers ; abroad the lives of missionaries and pio- 
neers, so that the teaching by characters is a favorite form 
in these classes ; the historic sense being splendidly developed. 
Young people ''enthuse" quickly. 

5. Feelings and Will. The emotional nature is easily 
aroused. It moves the Will, and action follows. Direct the 
feelings toward right action. Never fire up the engine simply 
to see the wheels go round. Stir the higher emotions to lead 



]^34 coin^t:ntion normal manual. 

into Christian service. A spirit of rivalry causes them to 
put forth more effort ; admiration, to follow a noble example ; 
pride, to shun evil. 

6. Exacting. Young men and women are no longer careless 
and awkward; these traits have yielded to fastidiousness, and 
to a spirit of close examination and criticism of everything. 
Things must be "just so" and "up to date." They are quick to 
detect shams. The teacher needs a firm grip on things in gen- 
eral ; should speak tersely and positively in teaching ; yet in 
a kindly spirit consider all questions and especially objec- 
tions on the part of the class. 

7. Comradeship reaches its height in this period. Loyalty 
and "esprit de corps" are strong. Hence the possibility of 
united effort in Christian service. Class organization is the 
modern plan for directing the ability of young people in Sun- 
day-school classes. Young men are in separate classes from 
young women. Comradeship, the club idea, makes it so. An 
organized class for young men seeks to provide for them all 
that is helpful in the mental, physical and religious life. The 
young woman's class seeks to do the same for young women. 
Delightful results come from bringing together these classes 
in a social way. Wise is the church management that directs 
the social life of the young people through the organized classes 
of young men and women. 

"Baraca" and "Philathea" are the popular names for young 
men's and women's classes. Full information concerning the 
workings of them may be had from the Baraca Supply Co., 
Syracuse, N. Y. 

Religious Characteeistics. 

1. The i^eVigioiis life is 'becoming less attractive to those who 
are not Christians, as this period is past the great conversion 
age. Every year increases the chances that they will not be- 
come Christians. Destiny is being shaped for them. Win 
them before "the evil days come and the years draw nigh 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS, 135 

when thej' shall say, 'I have no pleasure in them.' " The 
teacher who faces this fact will not need to be urged to make 
the teaching intensely spiritual. Neither will it be necessary 
to urge that the Christian members of the class direct their 
personal work toward their unconverted friends. 

2. The Christian meml>ersliip of the class is now in the age 
when training in Christian service is easiest and most natural. 
They love to be busy, and much of the class organization should 
be directed toward finding things for them to do. Tie them 
on to the class by genuine love for service — for which the 
class stands. Lead them to build themselves into the class 
and through the class to build up the work of the church and 
the kingdom in general. The work of officers and com- 
mittees affords a fruitful field. Insist upon definite, clean, 
clearcut plans ; frequent reports as to progress, and a high 
standard for results. Teach that Christian workers must 
solve problems and win over obstacles. 

3. The opportunity for helpfulness or sacrifice comes promi- 
nently to the front here. Teacher, seek to place responsi- 
bility on the members of the class, thus developing the indi- 
vidual. The ringing appeal for consecration even at th'e point 
of self-denial will find a ready response in the pupils of this 
period. Practically all of the volunteers in Christian service 
in all its forms come from our young men and w^omen. 

Give frequent opportunities for presenting and discussing 
life callings. Arrange for representatives of the various lines 
of Christian service to speak to the class, presenting the oppor- 
tunities of that kind of work. Many a young man or woman 
hears "voices calling" him into Christian work and needs only 
to be brought face to face with duty — to decide the matter. 
Have on the wall of your class-room the pictures of those 
who have gone from it as ministers, city missionaries, teachers 
in mission schools, or foreign missionaries. 



J36 CONVENTION NORMAL, MANUAL. 

SECTION VIII. 

The Adult Department. Ages 20 and Upwards. 

CHAKACTERISTICS. METHOD. 

I. Physical, 

1. Body developed and under 1. Management no longer a bur- 

control of the will. den on teacher. 

II. Mental. 

1. Judgment and reason prom- 1. Teach principles and applica- 

inent. tion. 

2. Lecture or quiz. 2. Combine the two, if possible. 

3. Home study. 3. Definite plan for development 

of it. 

4. Practical teaching. 4. Make teaching touch life and 

experience. 

5. Variety. 5. Look ahead ; plan for it. 

III. Religious. 

1. Devotional nature hungers. 1. Stress the devotional and 

2. Practical service appeals. evangelistic, 

2. Lead the class to activity. 

IV. Organization. 

1. The Vision. 1. The greater Sunday-school. 

2. Constituency. 2. All adults of the congregation. 

V. Teaching Material, 

Bible History, its underlying principles, causes and effects, 
and present-day lessons. Topical studies in the Bible as the 
class may elect. Practical Christian activities — Missions, home 
and foreign ; Stewardship ; soul-winning. Deepening the devo- 
tional life. 

Physical Characteristics. 

1. The period of growth is past. Development is the key 
word, now and hereafter. Physical powers are in their prime. 
They should be unimpaired. The body should be well under 
control of the Will. Great endurance is possible, unless the 
body is weakened by disease or vice. 



the pupil and his needs. 137 

Mental Chaeacteristics. 

1. If development during adolescence has been normal, the 
mind is in the height of its poicer. The discipline of school 
days has yielded a love for study, the power of concentration, 
of careful, painstaking investigation, and the power to give 
voluntary attention. The enthusiasm of youth has cooled 
somewhat, yet there remains a steady anthracite glow of sus- 
tained interest. Judgment and reason sit on the throne. De- 
cisions are made in the light of experience and knowledge. Life 
choices have been made and individuality is well defined. The 
spirt of investigation, of exploration into new fields asserts 
itself. The trained mind delights in the study of principles 
and their applications ; the discovery of causes and effects. 

2. Later, the tendency is to deal in reminiscence ; to judge 
present-day affairs in the light of the past. The argumentative 
disposition must be taken into account by the teacher. Tact 
is necessary to keep these tendencies within proper bounds and 
out of them bring that which is of value in the consnderation of 
the lesson. 

3. As a method of teaching, the teacher as a rule lectures, 
rather than conducts a quiz. The size of the class must 
determine this. Even in a class of a hundred pupils, some will 
be willing to answer questions if previously assigned. Some 
will prepare pointed questions to be asked of teacher or class. 
But the teacher must plan this in advance. 

The concrete is of value in the teaching. An outline of the 
lesson on the blackboard in view of all will enable the class 
to follow the teaching with Bibles open, and to search out fUe 
references. Map work is always interesting and profitable, 
when throwing light upon the teaching. 

4. Home study should de expected of Adults. This is a 
matter which the teacher can control. Assign it, expect it, call 
for it, use it, compliment those who do it. First get the con- 
sent of the individual to accept the assignment. Of course 
there are some who will not consent; the majority will. 



]^38 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

Home study is a matter of interest. Have a definite teaching 
plan for the quarter, or year. Frequent previews will keep 
the class informed as to the trend of things and the outcome. 
Many teachers prepare a printed scheme for the lessons of a 
definite period, distribute them, ask the class to keep in the 
Bibles and study by. 

5. Practical teaching is the clamor of Adults. The teacher 
must know the interests of the class. Make the teaching bear 
upon the life. Know the group of working men in the class 
and where they work ; the professional men, and what pro- 
fession ; the student class and what they study. Draw illus- 
trations from their world. Show how the truth touches their 
experiences. Ask them for applications. 

6. Variety, Plan for variety. Emphasize the difference be- 
tween the studies that are historical, biographical, mission- 
ary, devotional, prophetical, and those that deal with citizen- 
ship, stewardship, temperance, etc. Look ahead, secure the best 
physician to speak for ten minutes on the temperance lesson ; 
the return missionary to speak of his field; the layman to speak 
on stewardship ; the city mission worker to speak on soul- 
winning; likely the class will have in it representatives of 
these classes;, use them. 

Religious Characteristics. 

1. The devotional spirit must permeate the work of the 
adult class. The great conversion period is past, but conver- 
sions are not past. They do occur frequently in adult classes. 
The unconverted pupil in the Adult class is the most hungry of 
all for the Bread of Life. The evangelistic appeal is always in 
order. The Christian member of the class welcomes it, because 
it, as nothing else, warms the heart. 

2. Practical Christian service meets a ready response. Stress 
personal responsibility, then lead into some practical line of 
work. Missions? Lead the class to support a worker. Evan- 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS. 139 

gelistic? The class may foster an afternoon Sunday-school. 
Civic righteousness? Let the reform be planned in the class. 



Organization. 

1. The Vision. This is the day of the "Greater Sunday- 
school." No longer satisfied with the children of the church 
families, the Sunday-school has adopted for its motto regarding 
attendance, "All the church in the Sunday-school and as many 
more." The coming of the Home Department and the Adult 
class movement makes this possible. Every Sunday-school 
ought to have in it as many grown people, certainly, as it 
has children ; many schools have more. 

The organization and pushing of the Adult Department In 
any school will mean cracking the shell and emerging from the 
old hide-bound life into a bigger world of power, enthusiasm 
and usefulness. 

2. The Constituency. The Adult Department is composed 
of all the classes of men and women of the ages indicated. 
The busy, burdened man and woman of the business world 
needs the strength and blessing of the Bible teaching and class 
fellowship. Mothers and fathers need the strength and wisdom 
to be gotten only in this service. 

Mixed classes. The sexes being congenial, there is no em- 
barrassment. Much delight is often found in the presence of 
men and women in the class. Hence in many schools the 
Adults are taught in one large class. In this case there iiS 
little attempt at class organization ; the burden of maintaining 
the class is largely upon the teacher. 

Separate classes. The spirit of the organized class holds good 
for Adult classes of men and for women. If the teacher is an 
organizer and leader, possibly larger results can be realized if 
men are separate from women. Put upon the class the burden 
of winning and holding the pupils. Special features adapted 
to one or the other constituency may be used with good effect. 



]^40 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

Give the class a full organization; officers and committees 
to do the necessary things. 

A Men's class was organized on this bases; each man took 
so many **shares" in the class; the "shares" meant men; the 
member who took five *'shares" was responsible for five new 
members. When he "cashed in" by having his five present 
at one time, he received his certificate of stock ; after that, he 
was responsible for the regular attendance of his five. 

A certain Men's class started with twelve charter members. 
Each took for a name the name of one of the tribes of Israel. 
He had a banner with the name on it ; he went to work to build 
up his "tribe ;" he set the banner up by his seat in the class 
and the tribe rallied about it. When the tribe numbered thir- 
teen, it was announced that "a child was born in the tribe." The 
"tribe" then worked to build up the new family. 

A Women's class took the name "Timothy, Eunice, Lois," and 
had three departments of work. "Timothy Department" was 
for babies ; they maintained the nursery adjacent to the 
"Mother's gallery," and numbers of mothers began attending 
preaching, bringing the babies and leaving them in the nur- 
sery. "Eunice Department" was the clg.ss itself, composed 
largely of mothers. "Lois Department" was the Home Depart- 
ment work for the aged and infirm, or those otherwise kept 
out of the class. 

3. Practical Value of the Adult Department. 

(!) Greatly adds to the attendance. Multiplies the enthu- 
siasm. 

(2) Raises the Sunday-school to the place of manly dignity it 
so well deserves. 

(3) Practically solves the "boy and girl problem." B. F. 
Jacobs was asked how to keep boys and girls in the Sunday- 
school. He replied, "Build a wall of fathers and mothers 
between them and the door." 

The parents' Golden Rule is, "As ye would that your children 
do to the preaching service, do ye even so also unto the teaching 
service." 



THE PUPIL AND HIS NEEDS, X41 

(4) Gives an adequate force of workers to do the work of the 
school. Important offices must be filled by men and women 
of ability. 

(5) Solves the "teacher problem." The Adult Department 
makes possible a Substitute Teacher's Class, studying the lesson 
a week ahead so as to be prepared to teach it next Sunday. 

It makes possible the holding of young people to the age 
when they may be graduated into the regular Teacher-training 
department, where for a definite time they study the work 
of the teacher. From the Adult Department much of the 
best teaching material is drawn. 

It is a significant fact that the Teacher-training movement 
languished until the full tide of the Adult movement was on. 
Before that, there was not the material to make teachers of. 

(6) Makes possible large interest and gifts for Missions ; this 
is the ultimate end of Sunday-school work, as it is of the 
other departments of the church. 

(7) Greatly multiplies the power of the preaching service. 
Spirituality is impossible apart from Bible study. Little spirit- 
ual power has the Adult who drops into a church just after the 
preaching service begins. He brings little with him and takes 
little away. The Sunday-school gives splendid preparation of 
heart and mind for the preaching service. It is worth all it 
costs. 



TAKING A LARGER VIEW. 

In working with the pupil we must ever bear in mind all 
grades and classes in both family and commmiity. For this 
reason we aim to make the several departments, from the Cradle 
Roll to the Adult Class, cover all ages and conditions. We are 
dealing with a great common need. Sin in its deadly work has 
wrought and still works everywhere and with all classes. There 
is one common need growing out of a great common condition. 



]^42 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

The need is for a Saviour equal to meet all that sin has done 
in the world. We must not forget that children come into the 
world with the inheritance of the spiritual nature of their 
parents, and that as they come to years of accountability there 
is the need for Christ with them as with those who are older. 
God has graciously provided for those who die in infancy so 
that they are saved through the atonement which Christ brought 
into the world. Those coming to years are in need of salvation. 
Christ came to seek and to save that which is lost, whether 
child or man. Children coming to the years of accountability 
are in need of the regenerating Spirit of God. Whether facing 
children or teachers of children, the words of Christ to Nico- 
demus hold good, and have tremendous imjjort for today : 
"Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again." There 
is great danger that we overlook this fundamental fact in the 
spiritual condition of children and in the working of the Spirit 
and grace of God. Children are saved as others are saved, 
namely, having repentance toward God and faith toward the 
Lord Jesus Christ. And what is needed -with the child is suffi- 
cient for what some may call the more desperate cases where 
sin has done its fearful work. So the teacher can go in the full 
power and inspiration of having a Saviour to offer that can save 
unto the uttermost all who come unto God through him. And 
this is the final word we offer in closing this part of the book and 
repeating what has already been said, let us never forget the 
pupil in his deepest needs of a Saviour from sin and sinfulness, 
even of the Saviour, Jesus Christ, which we offer in our message. 



THIRD DIVISION. 
The Books of the Bible. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The chief purpose of this little manual is to promote Bible 
study among the young, though it may in some degree serve 
those of mature years. It follows what is perhaps the most 
profitable and interesting method : namely, the study of the 
Bible by books. The attempt is made to present leading facts 
regarding each book, with a sketch of its background and u 
concise view of its contents ; and if it can stimulate direct and 
intelligent contact with the messages of the Bible, its especial 
aim will be accomplished. 

As to specific introductions to the books of the Bible, Angus 
quotes Bishop Percy as saying that they will often prove "the 
best of commentaries and frequently supersede the . want of 
any. Like an intelligent guide, they direct the reader right 
at his first setting out, and thereby save him the trouble of 
much after inquiry ; or, like a map of the country through 
which he is to travel, they give him a general view of his 
journey, and prevent his being afterwards bewildered and lost/' 

In the present series of studies the books of the Bible are 
so arranged as to be covered by weekly lessons in a year. It 
is thought best, though the Old is much larger than the New, 
to divide the course equally between the Testaments. The les- 
sons for each quarter also follow the great divisions of matter 
into History, Poetry, Epistles, Prophecy. In the treatment of 
each lesson there is assigned, first of all, a study section, 

(143) 



2^44 CONVENTIOT^ NORMAL MANUAL. 

chosen from the book under consideration as a specimen of its 
contents, and designed for special devotional study and exe- 
gesis. It is intended that the student shall read or very care- 
fully review each Bible book as it appears in the course. This 
first-hand knowledge of the book itself may be tested and de- 
veloped by the search questions which are given at the close 
of each lesson. 

These studies are, of course, merely suggestive and elemen- 
tary. Yet the best scholarship — such as Wright, Dods, B. G. 
Taylor, Schaff, Driver, Pulpit Commentary, Johnson's Cyclo- 
pedia, Smith's Bible Dictionary, the Bagster and Oxford Bible 
Helps, etc. — has been consulted and utilized in the preparation 
of the work. And now that the labor of reducing a mass of 
accumulated materials to the present form has been completed, 
the author will find ample satisfaction if these pages shall 
lead any into the Bible afresh, winning for it a deeper love, a 
thirstier research, and a more perfect obedience. 

HiGHT C. MOORE. 

Raleigh, N. C, August, 1902. 



SECTION I. 
Old Testament — Law and History. 

Seventeen Books. 



Study Section— Psalm 119: 33-40— .1 BlMe Siudcnrs Prayer. 
First Quarter. Lesson i. 

1. Title. — The first and larger part of the Bible is called the 
Old Testament, because it embodies the Scriptures produced 
under the Old (or Jewish) Covenant. 

2. Contents. — In Josephus and the Alexandrian writers the 
books of the Old Testament were by combination reduced to 
twenty-two, so as to Correspond with the letters of the Hebrew 
alphabet ; thus Ruth was combined with Judges ; the three 
double books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles were each 
counted as one ; Ezra was united with Nehemiah, and Lamen- 
tations with Jeremiah ; while the twelve Minor Prophets were 
considered a single volume. In our Bible the books are sep- 
arated into thirty-nine, and they appear in the order given 

'them in the version known as the Latin Yulgate. The first 
seventeen books are historical, and the last seventeen propheti- 
cal, while the intervening five are poetical. 

3. Composition. — The Old Testament was written by and 
primarily for members of the Hebrew nation. The language, 
excepting a few chapters in Ezra and Daniel, is Hebrew ; 
these being the only works in pure Hebrew now extant. All 
except Ezekiel, Daniel, and Esther were written probably in 
Palestine. They were producd during and between the fifteenth 
and fifth centuries before Christ. Some, like the prophetical 
books, bear the names of their authors ; others, like most of the 

10 • (U5) 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. \^'J 

historical books, are anonymous. In some the work is entirely 
original, while in others the compiler's art is largely manifest. 
The two greatest names are those of Moses in the beginning, 
and Ezra at the close of the days of Old Testament inspira- 
tion ; thQ first opened the way with the earliest history and the 
Sinaitic Law ; the second, a thousand years later, by composi- 
tion and compilation, rounded out the Scriptures and turned 
over to posterity the first completed Jewish Bible. 

4. Canon. — During the long period of fragmentary Scripture 
the inspired messages as they appeared and won recognition 
were stored successively in Tabernacle and Temple, being par- 
ticularly entrusted to the priests, but also to the archives of 
the nation. When the last clear note of prophecy was sounded 
by Malachi, the separation of the sacred writings' was soon 
accomplished, mainly by Ezra and his associates. And so, 
many years before Christ, the Old Testament was completed 
and current, as it is at the present time. 



GENESIS. 

Study Sectiox — Gen. 18:23-33 — Abraham Before the Lord. 

First Quarter. Less ox II. 

The first book in the Bible, designated in Hebrew^ by its 
first word, but otherwise called the "Book of Creation" and 
"Book of the Patriarchs," derives its present name from the title 
assigned it in the Septuagint,* because it relates the genesis of 
the world. Whether or not it is itself the oldest book in exist- 
ence, it certainly contains the earliest trustworthy records of 
human history. It was written by Moses perhaps in the wil- 
derness and during the first half of the fifteenth century before 
Christ. He probably used, with divine guidance, older docu- 



*A Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures current in the time of Christ. 



]_48 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

ments and reliable traditions in the preparation of the volume. 
In it we have the story of the first twenty-three centuries of 
the world. It is, therefore, appropriately styled the Book of 
Beginnings, containing, as it does, the earliest facts of both 
universal and Jewish history. 

1. Beginnings of Universal History (chapters 1-11). — The 
book opens with the iDcerless record of the creative week. Then 
sin enters, man yields, and Eden is lost. The story of sinful 
man begins with a murder ; ensuing centuries of civil progress 
are marked by deepening depravity ; and finally the Flood comes 
to reduce the race to a single righteous family. A century 
or more later occurred the scene at Babel dispersing the 
builders, thus establishing the original unity of the race, and 
also accounting for the separate existence of the various lan- 
guages and nations of the world. 

2. Beginnings of Jetoish Histoy^y (chapters 12-50). — The 
genealogies reveal not only Israel's ancestry, but also its place 
among the nations. The first great patriarch was Abraham. 
By divine call he migrates from his native Ur of Chaldea to 
Haran, and thence to Canaan, where, after many stirring ex- 
periences, he dies and is buried. Isaac succeeds him in the 
story, with a life uneventful in the main and spent chiefly 
at Hebron. Jacob follows with a graphic career, moving from 
Hebron to Padan-aram, back again to Canaan, and finally to 
Egypt Of the sons of Jacob the most prominent was Joseph, 
who, despite fraternal jealousy, slavery in Potiphar's house, 
and confinement in the Egyptian prison, became the leading 
courtier in Egypt, and eventually died at a good old age, with 
his kindred settled in the best of the land around him and 
forming into a mighty nation. 

Thus Genesis preserves the earliest authentic records, intro- 
duces the history of Israel, and forms a fitting preface to the 
Bible. 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, ]^49 

EXODUS. 

Study Section — Exodus 20 :3-17 — The Ten Commandments. 
First Quarter. Lessot^ III, 

Exodus, though occasionally called "The Second Book," as 
related to the other volumes of Moses, or "The Book of Inju- 
ries," as touching a part of its legislation, ^Yas by the Alexan- 
drian scholars given its present name, meaning "departure," as 
an expression of its main theme. It was written by Moses 
during the forty years' wandering in the wilderness. Reciting 
in its first verses the settlement of Israel in Egypt, it carries 
forward the history to the erection of the Tabernacle before 
Sinai, and so covers a period of more than two centuries. 
Broadly, its content in the first half is historical, and in the 
second, legislative. 

1. Out of Egypt (chapters 1-18). — First we have a sad pic- 
ture of Israel in bondage, with its male infants being drowned 
and its men emaciated by the forced labor system. Moses 
appears, and, after a wonderful infancy, spends forty years 
each at the court of Pharaoh and in the land of Midian. At 
eighty years of age he is called at Horeb to deliver his country- 
men from servitude. Ten terrible plagues during as many months 
are visited upon Egypt ; thereupon, Pharaoh commands Israel to 
depart. At once the exodus is made ; first to rendezvous at 
Succoth ; thence to march by a circuitous route to the shores 
of the Red Sea ; there to be overtaken by the Egyptian army, 
but miraculously escaping beyond the sea, while their foes 
were overthrown ; and thence proceeding to Sinai, being pro- 
vided with manna, and having conquered Amalek on the way. 

€. Before Sinai (chapters 19-40). — Leaving Israel in camp, 
Moses ascends the Mount to receive the tables of stone and 
the laws for* the now chosen people. Directions were given 
for the erection of the Tabernacle with its furniture, the estab- 
lishment of the priesthood, and the institution of sacrifices. 
The making of the golden calf received severe punishment, but 



]^50 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

new tables and further legislation were granted. The offerings 
of the people were made, and just twelve months after the 
Exodus the Tabernacle was completed and crowned with the 
glory of the divine presence. 

Thus Exodus shows us how the children of Israel were 
transformed from a nation of slaves into the only pure theoc- 
racy in the world's history. 



LEVITICUS. 

Study Section — Leviticus 26 — Divine Promises and 
Threatenings, 
First Quarter. Lesson IY. 

This third book of Moses, dating with the rest of his work 
from the period in the wilderness, was called by the rabbis 
"The Law of the Priests" and "The Law of Offerings," but since 
the Vulgate appeared it has been called Leviticus, because it 
deals chiefly with the sanctuary services as administered by 
the Levites. Historically it lies in the fifty days between the 
erection of the Tabernacle and the departure from Sinai. The 
legislation it contains was given mainly from the Tabernacle, 
though the three closing chapters proceeded from the Mount. 

1. TJie Year's History. — Aside from the reception of the 
law by Moses, but three historical incidents are recorded in 
the book : the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the 
priesthood ; the death of Nadab and Abihu for offering "strange 
fire ;" and the stoning of the blasphemer. 

2. The Levitical Law. — Five principal sacrifices are enjoined 
and explained — the burnt, meal, peace, sin and trespass offA^- 
ings. Directions for the priests, together with the various 
laws of physical purity and ceremonial holiness, follow. Legis- 
lation is given concerning nine festivals : Sabbath, Passover, 
First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, 
Sabbatic Year, and Year of Jubilee. The book concludes with 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. ^51 

a chapter of promises and threatenings, and an appendix con- 
taining the law of vows and tithes. 

In Leviticus, therefore, we have the manual of worship placed 
in the hands of the Levites for the guidance of the people in 
their sanctuary devotions. 



FiKST Quarter. Lesson V. 

NUMBERS. 

Study Section — Numbers 21 :4-9 — The Brazen Serpent, 

Numbers, the fourth book of Moses, was so designated because 
of the two numberings of Israel which it records : one on the 
eve of departure from Sinai, and the other on the eve of the 
invasion of Canaan. The book is mainly occupied with the 
history of Israel's wanderings in the Wilderness, and covers 
a period of about thirty-eight years ; some paragraphs of Mosaic 
legislation are also included. 

1. From Si7iai to Kadesli-larnea (chapters 1-14). — The chief 
concluding events at Sinai were the taking of a census, the 
separation and consecration' of the Levites, the offerings of 
the princes at the dedication of the altar, and the observance 
of the Passover. Then at the divine signal the host of Israel 
started toward Canaan, whicli they could have reached within 
a half month. On reaching the wilderness of Paran twelve 
spies were sent to view the land. Upon their report the people 
refused to advance, and thereupon fell back in the wilderness, 
scourged by a plague and driven before enemies. 

2. The Thirty-seven Years' Wandering (chapters 15-19). — It 
was a long, monotonous residence in the wilderness, and little 
space is given to it. The chief events were the stoning of the 
Sabbath-breaker, the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, 
and the giving of laws regarding sacrifice, purification, and the 
maintenance of the priests and Levites. 

3. Forivard to the Plains of Moal) (chapters 20-36). — Reap- 



152 CON^rENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

pearing at Kadesh-barnea, the Israelites set out again toward 
Canaan. It was a fatiguing march around the territory of Edom. 
The important occurrences on the way were the death of Aaron 
on Mount Hor, the plague of the fiery serpents, the conquest 
of kings Sihon and Og, and the arrival on the plains of Moab, 
east of the Jordan and near Jericho. During the encampment 
here occurred the incident of Balaam, the sin of Baal-peor, tTie 
second numbering, the victory over Midian, the assignment of 
the country east of Jordan, and special legislation in view of 
the approaching invasion of Canaan. 

So, in Numbers, we are told how Israel faltered at first, fell 
back for years of wilderness discipline, and then finally ad- 
vanced with braver hearts to the border of the promised land. 



DEUTERONOMY. 

Study Section — Deuteronomy 31— The Song of Moses. 
First Quarter. Lesson VI. 

Deuteronomy, signifying "Second (or Duplicate) Law," was 
so named because it contains in part a restatement of Mosaic 
legislation. The history in it occurred during the last four 
or five weeks of the Forty Years' Wanderings. It consists 
mainly of the discourses of Moses addressed more to the people 
than to the priests ; hence the hortative vein and the appear- 
ance of the speaker as prophet rather than lawgiver. It was 
produced just before the days of Moses were numbered and 
when Israel was on the point of invading Canaan. 

1. First Address — Retrospect (chapters 1-4). — A graphic re- 
view of Israel's history in the Wilderness is presented as the 
basis of an earnest exhortation to obedience in the future. 

2. Second Address — Exposition (chapters 5-26). — With the 
repeated Decalogue as a text the inspired speaker dwells at 
length on the moral, ceremonial, and civil law. 



THE BOOKS OF THE IJIBLE. \^^ 

3. Third Address — Exhortation (chapters 27, 28). — By the 
recital of numerous promises and threatenings, the people are 
both instructed and stimulated to keep the divine command- 
ments. 

4. Fourth Address — Reneical (chapters 29, 30). — A covenant 
similar to and supplementing that at Horeb is made, including 
mercies to the penitent, and emphasizing the opportunities of 
revelation. 

5. The Fareivell (chapters 31-34). — The last days of the 
Great Lawgiver were marked by a charge to Joshua, his suc- 
cessor, the composition of his peerless song, and his parting 
benedictions upon the tribes of Israel. From a later hand we 
have in the closing chapter an account of his death and a eulogy 
upon his life. 



JOSHUA. 

Study Sectiots^ — Joshua 2 — The Story of Rahab. 
First Quarter. Lesson VIL 

This first book of the Bible to bear the name of an individual 
was so named because Joshua is its central figure rather than 
its author. Some, however, attribute the main part of the 
book to him, while others ascribe it to an unknown writer 
of the time of Saul. Joshua belonged to the tribe of Eph- 
raim, was born in Egj-pt, figured prominently in the wilderness 
wandering, was one of the twelve spies, and finally succeeded 
Moses as the leader of Israel, which post he held till his death, 
more than a quarter of a century later. The relation of this 
to the five preceding books has been compared to that between 
Acts and the Gospels. It covers a period of about twenty-five 
years from the crossing of Jordan to the death of Joshua, and 
relates chiefly to the conquest and partition of Canaan. 

1. The Invasion of Canaan (chapters 1-4). — After the death 
of Moses, Joshua and the people were encouraged and in- 



154 CONVENTION NOEMAL MANUAL. 

structed as to the task before them. The two spies were sent 
to Jericho and returned with favorable reports. Then across 
the bed of Jordan, the waters of the flooded river being 
miraculously stayed, the host of Israel passed over into the 
land of promise. 

2. The Triumph of Israel (chapters 5-12). — The first en- 
campment was at Gilgal, and was marked by a general circum- 
cision, the observance of Passover, and the ceasing of manna. 
Then came the siege and fall of both Jericho and Ai, followed 
by the reading of the blessings and curses on Mounts Gerizim 
and Ebal. The crafty Gibeonites were spared, but enslaved; 
the united kings of the south were met and exterminated; the 
confederacy of the north met an equal fate ; and, after a 
war of perhaps seven years, Joshua had conquered Canaan. 

3. The Allotment of Territory (chapters 13-22). — The various 
tribes are assigned their portions of the land, with special 
provision for Caleb, Joshua, and the Levites ; and, in addition 
the Tabernacle erected at Shiloh, and the cities of refuge 
established. 

4. The Faretvell of Joshua (chapters 23, 24). — Probably, 
eighteen years after the conquest the closing scene occurs with 
two addresses by Joshua— one an exhortation to duty, the 
other at the renewal of the covenant — followed speedily by his 
death and burial in Mount Ephraim. 

Thus the book of Joshua traces the story of Israel from 
the close of its wilderness wandering, through the period of 
conquest, to its permanent settlement in Canaan. 



JUDGES AND RUTH. 

Study Section — Ruth 1 — The Return of 'Naomi. 
First Quarter. Lesson VIII. 

Judges, so entitled because it tells of Israel's non-regal rulers, 
and Ruth, bearing the name of its chief character, were con- 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 155 

sidered one in the Je\Yish canon and said to be the work of 
Samuel. In them we have the earliest sketches • of what is 
properly the national history of Israel, extending over a period 
of about three centuries, from the death of Joshua to the 
birth of Samuel. 

1. The Ttco Sins (Judges 1, 2). — The period following the 
death of Joshua and his elders was one of disorganization 
among the tribes and of exposure to their enemies. But the 
secret of Israel's reverses during this stormy period lay in 
two chief iniquities ; first, the failure to utterly exterminate 
the inhabitants of the land ; and, secondly, frequent lapses 
into idolatry. The one spared a hostile remnant and the 
other forfeited divine favor. . 

2. The Six Deliverances (Judges 3-16). — The sinning of 
Israel was followed by oppression ; then duly came penitence 
and deliverance. Six of these cycles are noteworthy : Othniel 
delivered Israel from the Mesopotamians, Ehud from the Moa- 
bites, Deborah (and Barak) from the Canaanites, Gideon from 
the Midianites, Jephthah from the Ammonites, and Samson 
from the Philistines. The briefest mention is made of the 
other six judges ; a chapter is given to the story of Abimelech, 
the bramble king. 

3. The Three Stories (Judges 17-21; Ruth). — From the troub- 
lous period of the Judges, three interesting pictures of Israel- 
itish life are recorded. The first recounts the migration north- 
ward of a part of the tribe of Dan, the founding of the city 
of Dan and the establishment of image worship there. The 
second tells of the outrage at Gibeah and the resulting war 
of Israel against the tribe of Benjamin, by which the crime 
was committed and condoned. The third is embodied in the 
idyll of Ruth, opening with the ten years' sad sojourn of a Beth- 
lehemite family in Moab, the return of the widow Naomi with 
her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth, and the events leading 
to the marriage of Boaz and Ruth, whereby the heroine of 
the story becomes the ancestress of David. 



]_56 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

FIRST AND SECOND SAMUEL. 

Study Section-^1 Samuel 3 — The Call of Samuel. 
First Quarter. Lesson IX. 

The two books of Samuel, undivided until after the intro- 
duction of printing, come to us from the pen of an unknown 
author, dating perhaps from soon after the disruption of the 
kingdom. The titles comes from the name of the hero in its 
opening portion — Samuel, last of the Judges, and the only 
prophet who consecrated two young men successively to king- 
ship over Israel. They embrace a period of about one hundred 
and twenty years, from the birth of Samuel to the close of 
David's kingly career. The interest centers successively in 
Samuel, Saul, and David. 

1. The Career of Samuel (1 Samuel 1-12). — The answered 
prayer of Hannah terminates in the fulfillment of her vow, and 
little Samuel is dedicated to the Lord in the sanctuary at 
Shiloh. The ministry of the child, his call and popularity, 
prepare the way for him to become the head of Israel on the 
death of Eli, during a defeat by the Philistines. Having wise- 
ly .judged Israel for many years, he became too old for active 
service and the people requested a king. Thereupon Saul was 
anointed and elected ; then Samuel, with popular good-will and 
heavenly attestation, retired from the judgeship of his people. 

2. The Reign of Saul (1 Samuel 13-31).— The first monarch 
begins auspiciously by victories over the Philistines, Moabites, 
Ammonites, Edomites, and others. But his disobedience in th^ 
war against Amalek won the prediction of his overthrow. The 
youthful David is privately anointed as • his successor by 
Samuel. Thenceforward the son of Jesse comes into promi- 
nence, winning alike the envy of the king and the admiration 
of the people. Years of royal persecution followed, with thrill- 
ing experiences on the part of David and his men. Finally, 
in a war with the Philistines, Isreal is defeated, and Saul dies 
a suicide on Mount Gilboa. 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. ^57 

3. The Reign of David (2 Samuel). — Lamenting the death of 
Saul and Jonathan, David appears at Hebron, \yhere the men 
of Judah receive him as their king. Ishbosheth, son of Saul, is 
chosen temporary king over Israel, but later slain by his ser- 
vants, when the entire kingdom passes to David, with Jeru- 
salem as his capital. Victorious in many w^ars and wonder- 
fully successful in his country's upbuilding, his family history 
contained the incident of Bathsheba, Amnon's outrage, and 
Absalom's rebellion. With a fitting farewell, a list of his mighty" 
men, and the story of a fatal census, the public life of David 
comes to a close. 



FIRST AND SECOND KINGS. 
Study Sectiox — 1 Kings 18:17-46 — The Test on Mount Carmeh 
First Quarter. Lesson X. 

Originally one, these books, dating from soon after the cap- 
tivity of Judah, were compiled by an unknown author, though 
by some scholars ascribed to Jeremiah or Ezra. While record- 
ing the deeds of the kings, as their title signifies, they magnify 
the prophets and empliasize the supremacy of Jehovah over 
Israel. The course of history here recorded extends over the 
four and a half centuries from the accession of Solomon to the 
release of Jehoiachin. It is noteworthy that in these books 
we have the only account of the Ten Tribes after the Revolt. 

1. The Reign of Solomon (1 Kings 1-11). — In the last days 
of David the attempt of Adonijah to ascend the throne was 
thwarted by the coronation of Solomon. Early in his reign, 
Adonijah, Joab and Shimei were slain — almost the mly blood- 
shed during his reign, though his dominions were greatly 
extended and alliances effected with Egypt, Tyre, and other 
nations. His wisdom and fame culminated in the erection 
and dedication of the Temple, but later, through the in- 
fluence of foreign wives, his piety declined, at least tempo- 



][58 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

rarily, and finally he passed away under the gloomy forecast 
of a disrupted nation. 

2. The Divided Kingdom (1 Kings 12 to 2 Kings 17).— At 
the accession of Rehoboam the ten northern tribes revolt and 
set up a rival kingdom with Jeroboam as king. For 254 years 
the two kingdoms existed side by side, sometimes at war with 
each other and occasionally united against a common foe. 
Israel was ruled by nineteen kings of nine dynasties, and dur- 
ing the same period Judah had twelve kings, all of the Davidic 
line, with one queen. The lives of Elijah and Elisha, replete 
with picturesque incidents, are here preserved. Sinning Israel 
finally meets its fate; during its third terrible siege, Samaria 
falls before Shalmaneser in 721 B.C., the people are deported 
to Assyria, and there the identity of Israel disappears from 
history. 

3. The Survival of Judah (2 Kings 18-25). — The southern 
kingdom survived the northern by 135 years. During this time 
it was ruled by seven kings, like their predecessors, of David's 
line. Their foes successively were Assyria, Egypt, and Baby- 
lon. Before the last, under Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem fell in 
586 B.C., and its inhabitants were carried away into cap- 
tivity. 

Thus in the books of Kings we follow Israel to the height 
of its glory, and then downward along the path of disunion 
to national overthrow. 



FIRST AND SECOND CHRONICLES. 

Study Section — 2 Chronicles 30 — HezekiaWs Great Passover, 
First Quabter. Lesson XI. 

These books were originally united in Hebrew under the title 
of "Annals of Days ;" in the Septuagint they were separated and 
termed "Things Omitted ;" and in the Vulgate styled "Chronica," 
whence the title in our English Bibles. The compiler, thought 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 



159 



to be Ezra, drew upon a dozen authorities in the preparation 
of his work. Written during the period of the captivity, the 
chief object was to rehearse the entire previous history, and 
to make restoration possible by indicating the ancient families 
with their possessions. Supplemental to Kings, in some re- 
spects, these books have a priestly bearing, deal solely with 
the fortunes of Judah, and contain a historical outline cover- 
ing a period of about thirty-five centuries from Adam to the 
exile. 

1. The Genealogies (1 Chronicles 1-9). — Beginning with 
Adam, they extend to the period of the captivity, with special 
emphasis upon the house of David, the tribe of Levi, and 
residents of Jerusalem. 

2. The Reign of David (1 Chronicles 10-29). — The ^tory 
really begins with the monarchy. The rejection of Saul was 
followed by the election of David. While certain of his vic- 
tories are recorded, special mention is made of his religious 
work. Thus we are told of his fetching of the ark and selection 
of ministers to officiate in its service; his cultivation of na^ 
tional piety; his provision for the proposed temple in mate- 
rials, officials and ritual. He closes his career with liberality 
to the Lord's work and a spiritual benediction. 

3. The Reign of Solomon (2 Chronicles 1-9). — The scene at 
Gibeon, with its sacrifices and choice of wisdom, introduces 
the monarch, whose chief work was the building of the Temple : 
six of the nine chapters on his career are devoted to this one 
event. Having also built cities and extended his dominion, 
he passes from the history as the wisest man of the world. 

4. The History of Judah (2 Chronicles 10-36). — The revolt 
of the ten tribes under Jeroboam is noted, but the story ad- 
heres to Judah because it was more loyal to Jehovah, and in 
captivity it retained its identity. The succession of kings from 
Rehoboam to Zedekiah is enumerated with special reference 
to the good and evil of their reigns. Finally Jerusalem is de- 
stroyed and the captivity begins. Years afterward, when Baby- 



^QQ CONA^ENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

Ion had been absorbed by Persia, Cyrus gave the Jews permis- 
sion to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. 



THE BOOKS OF EXILIAN HISTORY. 

Study Section — Nehemiah 8 — The Lato Expounded. 
First Quarter. Lesson XII. 

The three last of the historical books of the Old Testament 
date from and relate to the period of the Exile. Ezra, named 
from its compiler, and Nehemiah, named for its leading char- 
acter, were combined in the Hebrew canon ; and they treat of the 
restoration of many Jews to their homeland. Esther, bearing 
the name of its heroine, gives a picture of the Jews w^ho were 
content to remain in the land of captivity. The actual history 
in these books occupied a score of years, but the events are 
distributed throughout a period of over a century. They direct- 
ly continue the record given in the Chronicles. 

1. Ezra. — In the year 536 B.C., by permission of Cyrus, about 
fifty thousand Jews returned to Jerusalem under the leadership 
of Zerubbabel. Owing to various hindrances the Temple was 
not completed and dedicated till 516 B.C. A half century 
later a smaller number, headed by Ezra himself, reached Jeru- 
salem and effected various reforms, notably in regard to inter- 
marrying among the heathen. 

2. Nehemiah. — Fourteen years intervene between the visit 
of Ezra and the first visit of Nehemiah to Jerusalem. The spe- 
cial object now was the rebuilding of the wall ; in spite of 
Sanballat and others, it was duly completed and dedicated. 
After instructing the people, by the aid of Ezra, Nehemiah re- 
turned to Babylon. But twelve years after making his first 
visit, he came again to Jerusalem and devoted himself to the 
correction of various abuses. 

3.' Esther. — In point of time this beautiful story is said to 
lie between the first and second expeditions to Jerusalem, as 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBO:. \Q1 

told by Ezra. We have here a correct delineation of Persian 
court life in the time of Xerxes (48G-4G5 B.C.). The dethrone- 
ment of Vashti, the elevation of Esther, the counteraction of 
Haman's plot with his overthrow, the institution of Purim, 
and the increasing fame of the persecuted Mordecai, are thrill- 
ingly depicted. 



REVIEW. 

Study Section — Acts 7: 1-53 — Stephen's Defense from History. 
First Quarter. Lesson XIII. 

In the past twelve lessons we have sketched the first seven- 
teen books of the Bible and the first thirty-five centuries of 
history. 

1. The Literature. — In these historical books is embodied 
nearly 60 per cent of the matter in the Old Testament. They 
also include the entire period of Old Testament history, though 
the time covered in the first book is longer than that 
embraced in all the otlier books combined. The principal known 
authors were Moses and Ezra, though authorship of some anony- 
mous books has been ascribed to Joshua, Samuel, Jeremiah, 
Mordecai, and others. The five books of Moses date from 
the Wilderness Wandering ; Joshua, Judges, and Ruth appeared 
soon after the occurrence of the events they record; the books 
of Samuel were published not long after the Disruption ; Kings 
and Chronicles were produced during the Captivity : Ezra, Xehe- 
miah, and Esther belong to the period of the Restoration. All 
except the last were written in or near Palestine. It has been 
observed that they contain two distinct historical series: (1) 
in the books from Genesis to Kings the story extends from 
Creation to the release of Jehoiachin in Babylon 562 B.C. ; 
(2) and in the remaining four books, the history is traced 
genealogically to Adam and onward to the second visit of 
Nehemiah to Jerusalem in 432 B.C. 
11 



1Q2 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

2. The History. — Beginning with the genesis of the world, 
man, civilization and religion, the course of universal history 
is followed on to some centuries after the Flood. Then the 
sacred story turns upon the chosen people. Giant characters 
appeared in the patriarchal age, with Abraham as foremost 
of all. The long bondage in Egypt and the forty years' wander- 
ing in the wilderness i3repared Israel for conquest and self- 
government. The subjugation of Canaan was followed by the 
troublous period of the Judges. In the balmier days of Samuel 
the monarchy was established. Three kings ruled over united 
Israel, but the secession of the Ten Tribes came at the crowning 
of Rehoboam. The northern kingdom, ruled by nineteen kings 
of nine dynasties, and lasting 254 years, fell before Assyria 
in 721 B.C. The southern kingdom, under twenty sovereigns, 
all of the Davidic line except a usurping queen, lasted for 
389 years and fell before Babylon in 580 B.C. Thus the exile 
began. But with the conquest of Babylon by Persia, the Jews 
were favored, and many were allowed to return to Jerusalem 
and rebuild their temple and city. And here the history con- 
cludes with the ten tribes all but lost, and Judah divided be- 
tween Babylonia and Palestine, longing for the dawn of the 
Messianic era. 



SECTION II. 
Old Testament — Poetry and Prophecy. 

TWENTY-TWO BOOKS. 



THE POETICAL BOOKS. 

Study Section — Psalm 96 — A Netv Song. 

Second Quarter. Lesson I. 

1. Hehreiv Poetry. — The principal trait of Hebrew poetry 

is called parallelism ; that is, the rhythm of two or more clauses 

is of sense rather than sound, of thought rather than accent 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. ]^g3 

This parallelism has been found to be of three kinds ; synony- 
mous, which repeats in different words the same thought; 
synthetic, with extends and expands the first clause ; and anti- 
thetic, which states a truth both positively and negatively. 
The great excellence of this kind of poetry is that it can be more 
readily and accurately translated than any other ; hence its 
adoption by the Spirit in the inspiration of the Scriptures. The 
lyrical style predominates, though the didactic was often em- 
ployed ; Hebrew poetry is without an epic, and, properly speak- 
ing, has no drama, though Job and the Song of Solomon display 
much of the dramatic. As might be expected, the lyrics ap- 
peared mainly in stirring times, w^hile didactic verse was pro- 
duced during undisturbed, meditative eras. 

2. The Poetic Periods. — There were three great and well- 
defined periods of poetic activity in Hebrew history. They 
mark the commencement, culmination, and close of the na- 
tion's existence. The Mosaic period was marked chiefiy by the 
verse of the Lawgiver, as illustrated in the song by the Red 
Sea, the ninetieth Psalm, and the Song of Farewell (Deut. 
32, 33). The golden age of Hebrew verse, lyric and didactic, 
respectively, reached its greatest splendor in the days of David 
and Solomon. And during the period of Exile, with Israel in 
the school of affliction, once more the lyre was strung and 
poets raised their hymns of prayer and praise. 

3. The Poetical Books. — While the Old Testament, aside 
from Daniel and the historical books (Genesis to Esther), is 
mainly cast into poetic form, yet the prophecies are usually 
classed separately, leaving only the five books from Job to 
Solomon's Song in the department of poetry. The Psalms and 
the Song are lyrics; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are didactic; 
Job partakes of both, while appearing in the form of a drama 
The prevalent note of Job is suffering; of Psalms, praise; of 
Proverbs, wisdom ; of Ecclesiastes, vanity ; and of the Song, 
love. 



1Q4, CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

JOB. 

Study Section — Job 40:1-14 — The Sin of Murmuring, 
Second Quarter. Lesson II. 

1. Composition. — The book of Job is so called 'because the 
patriarch and prince of Uz ^Yas its central figure rather than 
its author. Formerly considered the \York of Job and the oldest 
book in the world, it is now thought to have come from the 
hand of an unknown writer belonging to the time of Solomon. 
With the national history of Egypt, and with the various 
phases of life in Eastern Palestine, the writer was well ac- 
quainted, as evidenced in the book ; he was probably a Jew, 
but nothing is known of his personal history. Since the theme 
of the book is of world-wide concern as one of the oldest diffi- 
culties of the race, the author gives it a broad treatment with- 
out allusion to either the law of Moses or the history of 
Israel. The historical introduction and conclusion appear in 
prose, while the body of the work is given in the form of a 
dramatic poem. 

2. Character. — The book rests on a definite historical back- 
ground ; that iSj Job was a real character and the events re- 
corded about him, though poetically colored, were jet his- 
torically true ; that he lived far back in the patriarchal age is 
generally believed, and manifestly he was one of the greatest 
men of his time. The afflicting experiences that came upon 
him in quick succession brought into prominence the proble)]i 
of suffering. The theory that all suffering is traceable to 
some special sin in the sufferer was advocated by the three 
princes who came to visit Job : the oracular Eliphaz, the 
pedantic Bildad, and the dogmatic Zophar. This conclusion 
Job, conscious of his integrity, could not accept. The discip- 
linary character of suffering was set forth by a new speaker, 
Elihu, but when all is said and Jehovah has uttered His mes- 
sage, the problem raised in the book is yet unexplained. The 
proposed solutions do not always solve ; the cause and meaning 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 165 

Of adversity are sometimes incompreliensible ; the best we can 
do is to accept tlie inevitable and trust in God. 

3. Conte7its.— The book opens witb Job on the pinnacle of 
Oriental greatness. But successive disasters sweep away his 
wealth, his children, and his health, till from tlie seat of power 
he is transferred to the ash-heap of an outcast. There he is 
visited by his three friends, and after seven days of silent 
grief the great argument begins. The colloquies are arranged 
in three great cycles, the discussion being opened by Job, each 
of the three visitors speaking (save Zophar in the last cycle), 
and Job replying to each address. The speech of Elihu on the 
discipline of affliction and the address of Jehovah on the in- 
comprehensibility of Providence, conclude the poem. In the 
closing chapter we see the patient sufferer restored to double 
his former prosperity and ending his days in peaca, 



PSALMS. 

Study SEbTioN — Psalm 1 — The Rigliteous and tlie Wicked. 
Second Quarter. Lesson III. 

This collection of one hundred and fifty devotional lyrics was 
originally entitled "Praises," but long before the time of 
Christ it was styled "The Book of Psalms," because they were 
hymns to be sung with instrumental accompaniment. 

1. Authorship. — By the ancient Jews David was considered 
almost the one composer and compiler of the Psalter ; hence 
the collection was frequently called "The Psalms of David." 
As a matter of fact, fewer than half the Psalms (seventy- 
three) are distinctly assigned to David, about a dozen each to 
Asaph and the sons of Korah, two to Solomon, and one to 
Moses, while about fifty are anonymous. While the great 
majority belong to the Davidic era, at least one dates from 
the wandering of Israel in the wilderness, while several were 



1QQ CONVENTION NOKMAL MANUAL. 

evidently produced during the Exile. The collection thus spans 
a thousand years of the history of Israel. 

2. Arrangement. — The separate Psalms were called forth 
by special occasions. Gradually the work of compilation began 
and went on until the present form was assumed. In the 
Hebrew the collection was early divided into five books, evi- 
dently designed to correspond with the five books of Moses. 
The number of Psalms they contain respectively is forty-one, 
thirty-one, seventeen, seventeen, and forty-four. The first and 
second books are in the main of Davidic authorship, while in 
the other books we have chiefly the work of Asaph and the 
anonymous writers. 

3. Character. — Praise is regarded the prevalent note of the 
Psalms. Prayer is perhaps even more prominent. Many of 
them breathe the spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving. The 
imprecatory Psalms in strong Oriental coloring betray an in- 
tense loyalty to and jealousy for Jehovah. Some of the hymns 
are specifically didactic, though from the entire collection 
there is gleaned instruction for well nigh every phase of life. 
There are also the prophetic Psalms, which anticipate ardently 
the coming of the Messianic era. So broad is the sweep and 
so universal the adaptation of the Psalms that Luther has 
called the book "a Bible in miniature." 

4. Features. — In the Hebrew only thirty-four of the Psalms 
are without superscriptions, which indicate generally the author 
and his circumstances, sometimes the contents, the musical 
character, or the occasions on which they were to be employed. 
Of the groups of Psalms the following may be named: the 
Seven Penitential Psalms— 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143 ; the Five 
Royal Psalms— 2, 20, 21, 45, 72; the Hallel (six Psalms) — 
113-118; the Fifteen Songs of Degrees (or Ascents)— 120-134; 
the Five Hallelujah Psalms, 146-150. 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. IQ'J 

THE BOOKS OF SOLOMON. 
Study Section — Proverbs 1 :T-33 — The Voice of Wisdom. 

Second Quarter. Lesson IV. 

Solomon, son of David, and monarch of united Israel at the 
height of its glorj^, very probably wrote the three books 
assigned to him hj ancient Jewish tradition ; the Song in his 
youth, the Proverbs in his maturer years, and Ecclesiastes in 
his old age. 

1. Proverbs. — In the composition of his three thousand 
proverbs, Solomon lorobably included many of the wise sayings 
of his time ; such as were divinely sanctioned were in due time 
embodied in the compilation preserved to us. The collection 
was not completed till the time of Hezekiah, and in it were 
embraced fragments by the otherwise unknown Agur and King 
Lemuel. In its production, therefore, three centuries were 
required. It is entitled "The Proverbs of Solomon." because for 
most of it we are indebted to his pen. The book contains 
individual proverbs in the main, but opens with a detailed 
description of wisdom, is interspersed with various proverbial 
discourses, and closes with a remarkable acrostic on the 
virtuous woman. The Proverbs are adapted to the practical, 
as the Psalms are to the devotional, life. 

2. Ecclesiastes. — Having experienced the most and the best 
earth could give of wealth, knowledge, power and pleasure, 
Solomon, in his declining years, here recorded the lesson of his 
life. Under the designation of "The Preacher," he summoned 
men to hear his verdict upon human experience. "Vanity of 
vanities ; all is vanity." Yet this seemingly pessimistic conclu- 
sion is reached as the result of human folly and not of divine 
providence. The point is, that, apart from God, nothing satis- 
fies ; hence man, to be happy, must come into harmony with 
God. In the enforcement of this general theme the author 
writes many useful maxims and practical exhortations. 

3. The Song of Solomon, — Of the thousand and five songs 



J^gg CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

attributed to Solomon, this was probably the longest and most 
valuable. While it does not mention the name of God, v^as not 
permitted the Jewish youth under thirty, and is not quoted in 
the New Testament, yet in it the eye of faith reads much that 
is instructive. According to the usual interpretation, it em- 
bodies a dialogue between the youthful author and his espoused 
bride, thus on a basis of fact setting forth allegorically the true 
relation of Jehovah and Israel, of Christ and the Church. 
Another view, however, while accepting it as a picture of true 
affection, represents Solomon as the unsuccessful of two lovers, 
the maiden resisting the seductions of court life and remaining 
true in her pledge to her rustic shepherd lover in the northern 
hills, to whom she is finally restored. In either case we have 
a beautiful picture of pure love and unwavering fidelity. 



THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS. 

Study Section — Isaiah 61 — Anointed to Preach. 
Second Quarter. Lesson V. 

1. Character. — The prophet was a revealer of the divine will. 
Frequently this revelation w^as in the form of prediction, but 
generally it was declaration and explanation, so that the 
prophet was less a foreteller than a forth-teller. Though seers 
appeared in earlier times, it is thought that the prophetic age 
really began with Samuel, in connection with whose ministry 
the schools of the prophets arose and flourished. At first 
they were in the main civil advisors ; later, with the degeneracy 
of rulers and people, they became the men of action in stormy 
times ; and finally, with greater spiritual insight and emphasis, 
they appealed more directly to the heart and soul of the sinking 
and enslaved nation. No books were left us by the seers and 
earlier prophets; those of the later time wrote out some of 
the prophecies which they had uttered. 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. Jg9 

2. Classification. — The seventeen prophetical books of the 
Old Testament are commonly divided into two sections ; the 
Major Prophets, consisting of five books by four men; the 
Minor Prophets, consisting of the remaining twelve books by 
as many authors. They are so called because of their length, 
rather than of relative value or importance. The prophecy and 
Lamentations of Jeremiah were counted one book, while the 
Minor Prophets were also united and given the title of "The 
Book of the Twelve Prophets." 

3. Chronology. — The prophetical books were produced during 
a period of about four hundred years, from the ninth to the 
fifth centuries before Christ. Ten of them appeared during 
the decline of the nation ; four in the northern kingdom — 
Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Nahum ; and six in the southern king- 
dom — 'Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. 
Three belong to the time of the captivity — Ezekiel, Obadiah, and 
Daniel. The remaining three date from the period of the Res- 
toration — Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. 

4. Contents. — The prophetic revelations often took the form 
of rebuke of sin with threats of punishment, but also of en- 
couragement in the performance of duty. Denunciation and 
doom w^ere pronounced upon the states adjoining Palestine, 
together with the great su(pcessive empires of Assyria, Chaldea, 
and Persia. For the Jews in particular a sad destiny was 
pictured on the background of their teeming iniquities ; but 
there was added a ray of light — restoration should follow cap- 
tivity. And, finally, from those dark days, with so much 
sin. and desolation, and despondency, there was a clear and 
confident outlook toward a radiant future, when the Son 
of Man should appear and usher in the glorious Messianic era. 



YJQ CONVENTION NOEMAL MANUAL. ^ 

ISAIAH. 

i 

Study Section — Isaiah 6 — The Gall of Isaiah, ! 

Second Quartee. Lesson VI. | 

1. The Period. — The ministry of Isaiah belongs mainly in the i 
closing half of the eighth century before Christ. The two king- ' 
doms of Israel and Judah were at the beginning of his min- ' 
istry outwardly prosperous, but inwardly corrupt, and so de- i 
dining. Assyria was the great world-power of the day, and 
before it the northern kingdom fell in 721 B.C. Twenty years 
later the southern kingdom was threatened, but escaped by the 
angelic overthrow of Sennacherib's army. Isaiah prophesied 
during the reigns of four of Judah's kings: of Uzziah and 
Jotham, when all seemed to be moving on well; of Ahaz, who I 
was threatened by Israel and Assyria, and ultimately became | 
a vassal of the latter as the result of rejecting the prophet's ! 
policy of neutrality ; and of Hezekiah, who inaugurated reforms, | 
hearkened to Isaiah and left a shining record as one of the ^ 
best of the kings. But the general trend was downward through i 
sin toward captivity. ' i 

2. The Prophet.— Issiisih was the son of Amoz. He was a , 
resident of Jerusalem and influential alike at court and among 
the people. He was married and had a family, his wife being 

a prophetess and his sons bearing prophetical names. He j 
entered the prophetical office under the reign of Uzziah, and j 
his ministry is thought to have extended over a period of sixty ^ 
years. Jerusalem was the scene of his labors and most of his '■ 
prophecies were probably delivered in the court of the Temple. j 
With broad themes and lofty style he stands at the summit | 
of all prophecy. But his work was not without its reverses I 
and, according to Jewish tradition, he was at about ninety i 
years of age sawn asunder in a hollow carob tree by order of \ 
Manasseh. I 

3. The Prophecy. — The book of Isaiah falls into two parts. \ 
The first embraces thirty-nine chapters, and is connected with | 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. YIl 

Judah's history mainly during the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah. 
In the remaining twenty-seven chapters we have the second 
part looking a century and a half beyond Isaiah's time, fore- 
casting the Babylonian captivity and the restoration, and 
especially sketching forth the glories of the Messianic age. 
Thus it has been appropriately styled "The Gospel of the Old 
Testament." It is also noteworthy that from forty-seven of its 
sixty-six chapters there are quotations in the New Testament. 



THE BOOKS OF JEREMIAH. 

Study Section — Jeremiah 36 — The Roll Consumed. 
Second Quabteb. Lesson VII. 

1. The Prophet. — Between the ministries of Isaiah and Jere- 
miah there was an interval of seventy years. Of priestly 
descent and consecrated to God before his birth, Jeremiah w^as 
the son of Hilkiah, a resident of Anathoth, near Jerusalem. 
Beginning his ministry at his paternal abode about 625 B.C., 
he soon removed to Jerusalem, where most of his life was 
spent. Never marrying, his one thought was of civic and 
religious duty. But for the stinging rebukes he was authorized 
to utter, which cost him a struggle with a natural timidity, 
he would have been highly esteemed. As it w^as, he was at one 
time put in the stocks by Pashhur, the priest ; at another time 
his roll was consumed by King Jehoiakim, and at the fall of 
Jerusalem he was languishing in prison. Favored by the vic- 
tors, he was permitted to remain in Palestine with Gedaliah, 
the newly appointed governor. After a time there was an 
insurrection, in which Gedaliah was slain, and Jeremiah was 
taken by the insurgents to Egypt, where his remaining dnys 
were spent. After a ministry of at least forty-one years, ex- 
tending through the reigns of the last five kings of Judah, 
embracing the siege and desolation of Jerusalem, and termi- 



Y12 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

nating in Egypt, Jeremiah is said to have died at Tahpanhes 
by stoning at the hands of his countrymen. 

2. The Prophecy. — The book of Jeremiah was written at the 
prophet's dictation by his faithful companion, Baruch, the son 
of Neriah. The earlier copy having been cut to pieces by 
Jehoiakim, the prophecies here recorded are not chronologically 
arranged. Broadly speaking, forty-five chapters relate to 
Judah — its guilt and doom, its repentance and restoration ; and 
seven chapters relate to Gentile nations, such as Egypt, Philis- 
tia, Moab, Damascus, and Babylon. The prophecy throughout 
is also interspersed with notes historical and biographical, so 
that we have vivid sketches of the times and labors of the 
prophet. 

3. The Lamentations. — Perhaps from a cave overlooking the 
site of Jerusalem the "Weeping Prophet" wrote these plaintive 
verses on the fall of the sacred city before Nebuchadnezzar. 
The book, though in reality a distinct production as we have it^ 
was anciently considered one with the prophecy. It contains 
five elegies ; the first four are alphabetic — that is, in the origi- 
nal they contain acrostically the twenty-two letters of the 
Hebrew alphabet. The book was by the Jews very appropriate- 
ly set apart for public reading on the anniversary of the 
destruction of the first Temple. 



EZEKIEL. 

Study Section — Ezekiel 37 :1-14 — The Valley of Dry Boiies. 
Second Quarter. Lesson VIII. 

1. The Prophet. — Ezekiel, son of Buzi, the priest, was born 
and educated in the land of Judah. He was perhaps twenty- 
five years of age when carried away into captivity with Jehoia- 
chin and ten thousand of his people about 598 B.C. The 
place of their settlement in Chaldea was by the river (or 
canal) Chebar, about two hundred miles north of Babylon. It 



THE BOOKS OF TPIE BIBLE. ]_73 

was in the fifth year of captivity that he began his prophetic 
ministry, \Yhich continued at least t\Yenty-tvvo years. Having 
a house of his own and being highly esteemed by his fellow 
captives, his home was the rendezvous of the elders and 
leaders of the Jews. The sudden death of his wife occurred 
during the ninth year of exile. His two most distinguished 
prophetical contemporaries were Jeremiah (for the first eight 
years) and Daniel, who long survived him. It is asserted 
by tradition that the close of his life was marked by persecu- 
tion, and that for denouncing idolatry he was murdered by 
his fellow exiles. The traditional tomb is still pointed out near 
Bagdad. 

2. The People. — The ministry of Ezekiel covers the period 
immediately precediiig and following the deslructioi? of Jeru- 
salem. It was the stormiest time in the history of Judah. 
National sins had fruited in national reverses, revolt had 
brought on retribution, until the captivity in which Ezekiel 
was taken away was followed eleven years later by the com- 
plete overthrow of the nation. Yet the captive Jews w^ere not 
altogether slaves ; they were rather colonists, with the privi- 
lege of observing the Mosaic Law, preserving their genealogies, 
maintaining their worship, and rising to prominence in civic 
life. In this era the synagogue probably arose ; idolatry was 
finally exterminated from among the Jews ; dnd the worship 
of Jehovah in the land of captivity was both intensified and 
ennobled. 

3. The Prophecy. — The book of Ezekiel, like his ministry, 
hinges upon the destruction of Jerusalem. Twenty-four chap- 
ters were written before that event ; in them we have the 
denunciation of sin, the prediction of overthrow and the exhor- 
tation to penitence. The remaining twenty-four chapters were 
written after the fall and consist of two main divisions : the 
first embraces judgment upon Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, 
Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt ; the second contains consolation for 
the captives in view of a new Temple and Jerusalem more 
glorious than those which had been swept away. 



174 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

DANIEL. 

Study Section — Daniel 5 — The Handwriting on the Wall. 
Second Quarter. Lesson IX. 

1. The Prophet. — Daniel, probably born at Jerusalem, and 
belonging to the nobility, was in early youth carried a captive 
to Babylon about the year 604 B.C., some years prior to his 
contemporary, Ezekiel. On account of his mental gifts and 
physical graces he was placed in the palace school at Babylon, 
and given a three years' training for royal service. From the 
close of his student days he rose to the highest positions under 
the Chaldean, and Median, and Persian dynasties. For recall- 
ing and explaining Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he was made chief 
of the wise men and ruler of the Babylonian province, which 
positions he held during that monarch's reign. When Belshaz- 
zar ascended the throne, Daniel again comes into special promi- 
nence in connection with the feast and the handwriting on 
the wall, and when Babylon was overthrown, the conquering 
power honored Daniel by making him one of the three presi- 
dents of the reconstructed kingdom. In this capacity he served 
till the third year of Cyrus, when he seems to have resigned 
and retired. It is conjectured that he may have visited Pales- 
tine, though of his later years nothing is definitely known more 
than that he was advanced in years when he died. A devout 
man and a great statesman, he was also a leading prophet and 
the founder of apocalyptic literature. 

2. The Period. — The life of Daniel spans the entire period 
of the Jewish captivity. The decline of Judah and its over- 
throw lent color to the theory that the kingdom of God was 
overwhelmed by the powers of earth. But conquering Babylon 
in due time went down before the Medo-Persian armies and 
was displaced by that far-reaching empire. The Jews were 
then favored, and cleansed of their idolatry by the captivity, 
they returned to rebuild their ruined homes, temple, city, and 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. YI5 

nation. Stirring and significant were the events of Daniel's 
time. 

3. TJie Prophecy. — The book of Daniel was probably written 
at Babylon soon after the latest date designated, which wa^ 
about 534 B.C. It contains six chapters each of history and 
prophecy. The first part is connected with the life of the 
prophet and shows the captive unforsaken of Jehovah. The 
second part embodies the prophetic visions, which typify the 
supremacy of Jehovah over the world-powers and the use- 
lessness of their struggle against Him, His purpose, and His 
people. 



THE MINOR PROPHETS— NORTH. 

Study Section — Hosea 14 — A Plea for Penitence. 

Second Quarter. Lesson X. 

To the northern kingdom of Israel belonged very probably 

four of the twelve Minor Prophets : Hosea, Amos, Jonah, and 

Nahum. 

1. Rosea, son of Beeri, was probably a native of Ephraim, 
strongest of the ten tribes. If the first three chapters of his 
book are not allegorical, his home life was wretched, but it 
enabled him to proclaim more fully the love of God to a 
faithless people. His ministry probably closed a short time 
before the fall of Samaria, in 721 B.C. His book falls into two 
parts: three chapters of symbolical history, in which the 
prophet's family life, with its dark unfaithfulness and its 
dreadful misery, was but the picture of the relation Israel 
sustained to Jehovah ; and eleven chapters containing frag- 
ments of his later ministry, with its denunciation of sin, the 
threat and vision of swift-coming punishment, the urgent plea 
for deep national penitence, and the tender promise of resto- 
ration. 

2. Amos, a contemporary of Hosea, though a native of the 



176 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

village Of Tekoa, twelve miles south of Jerusalem, prophesied at 
Bethel, in the northern kingdom. He did not belong to the 
prophetical class, but was a shepherd and dresser of sycamores. 
His denunciation of Israel's guilt aroused opposition among a 
false priesthood and an impenitent people. When he predicted 
the downfall of the dynasty of Jeroboam II, he w^as accused of 
treason and stopped in his work. The closed mouth, however, 
found expression through the unfettered pen, and in the 
prophet's writings we have recorded the guilt of the nations, 
the denunciation of Israel, and the visions of doom. Finally 
the light breaks forth for a moment in promise of a brighter 
day. 

3. Jonah, son of Amittai, and native of Gathhepher, just 
north of Nazareth, lived in the reign of Jeroboam II. His 
prophetic work was first to predict the success of Jeroboam's 
armies, and, secondly, to preach to Nineveh, whither he was 
sent not merely for the conversion of Nineveh, but also to 
show that God's purpose of grace was not limited to Israel 
alone. With this latter mission, the book, of w^hich the 
prophet himself may have been the author, is concerned, and 
the story is given in four chapters : disobedience and punish- 
ment ; prayer and deliverance ; preaching and repentance ; dis- 
pleasure and rebuke. Thus it is shown that God is inescapable, 
exclusiveness is wrong, penitence is efficacious even among the 
heathen, and results must be left with God. 

4. Nahum, whose name occurs nowhere else in the Bible, 
and about whose birthplace (though probably in Galilee) there 
is great uncertainty, gives us "the last echo of prophecy from 
any survivor of the ten tribes." The prophecy of Nahum, dating 
from about the middle of the seventh century before Christ, has 
been styled "the death-song of Nineveh," the seat of Assyrian 
power, for three centuries the dread and menace of Israel and 
Judah. The message of doom is in the three chapters of the 
book respectively announced, pictured, and vindicated. Though 
Nineveh was then at the height of its glory, within a half cen- 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, ]^77 

tury it fell into utter desolation before its united enemies 
under the strong leadership of Babylon. 



THE MINOR PROPHETS— SOUTH. 

Study Section — Micah 6 :l-8 — The Lord's Gontrovei'sy. 
Second Quakter. Lesson XI. 

Of the twelve Minor Prophets, Joel, Obadiah, Micah, Habak- 
kuk, and Zephaniah very probably belonged to Judah, the soufii- 
ern kingdom. 

1. Joel, son of Pethuel, was a priest, and probably resident 
at Jerusalem. As to his time, opinion varies from the ninth to 
the fifth centuries before Christ. The only background of the 
prophecy is a fierce plague of locusts in ancient Judah. In the 
book we have in the first chapter a sad and awful picture of 
the devouring plague; in the second, the fast proclaimed and 
the Lord merciful ; and in the third, the testing of the nations 
in view of the divine dealing with stricken Judah. 

2. O'badiah, the author of this brief prophecy, has not been 
identified with any of several bearing this name in Scripture. 
While great uncertainty exists as to date, we know the general 
circumstances of utterance : Judah had suffered reverse and 
haughty Edom — a kindred nation that should have sympathized 
— was exultant and reproachful. In this shortest book of the 
Old Testament, we have a prediction of the overthrow of Edom 
and of the restoration of Israel, when "the kingdom shall be 
the Lord's." 

3. Micah, apparently of humble origin, was a native of 
Moresheth-gath, a little town lying off toward the Philistine 
plain. The period of his activity was during the reigns of 
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Though both kingdoms w^ere 
outwardly prosperous to the untrained eye, yet there was per- 
ceptible to prophetic vision a sad and swift decline. Perhaps 

12 



J^78 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

near the close of his ministry the prophet, from notes of his 
public utterances, wrote out his book declaring divine judg- 
ment, national guilt, and Messianic blessing. The clearness of 
his forecast is strikingly exhibited in the destruction of 
Samaria and the birthplace of our Lord. 

4. Hal^akkuJc, traditionally of the tribe of Levi, a resident 
of Jerusalem, and probably one of the Temple singers, appeared 
toward the close of the seventh century before Christ at a time 
when there seems to have been confusion at home and strife 
abroad. The three chapters of the book may be entitled re- 
spectively the colloquy, the address, and the prayer. Unlike the 
other prophecies, that of Habakkuk is cast in dramatic form. 
The ode in the last chapter is considered one of the finest in all 
literature. 

5. Zephaniah, whose ancestral record, running back four gen- 
erations, is given with unusual fullness, may have been born 
during the persecution under Manasseh. During his ministry 
the young Josiah was on the throne, and in the struggle be- 
tween right and wrong a temporary reform was wrought. In 
the three short chapters he has left us, we have a brief sum- 
mary of the general tenor of his ministry : the prediction 
of judgment, the plea for penitence, and the promise of res- 
toration. 



MINOR PROPHETS— POST-EXILIAN. 

Study Section — Haggai 2:1-9 — Rel>uilcling\ the Temple. 
Second Quarter. Lesson XII. 

Between Zephaniah and Haggai a hundred years intervene. 
The scene is still Jerusalem, but now the city ' lies in ruins, 
having been laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. The 
people are captives returned from Persia, which, after over- 
throwing Babylon in 538 B.C., had two years later given 
many of the Jews liberty to return to their home land for the 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. YI9 

purpose of rebuilding the Teuaple. Auspiciously the work was 
begun, but because of Samaritan opposition it was delayed 
fourteen years. Finally, under the appeals of Haggai and 
Zecliariah, work was resumed, and within four years the 
Temple was completed (516 B.C.). 

1. Haggai was apparently born in the land of Judah, and 
possibly had seen the Temple of Solomon before its overthrow 
with the city. Whether just from Persia, or all the while 
with the returned captives, he appears in 520 B.C. at Jerusa- 
lem with burning zeal and ringing appeal for the new Temple. 
Aged, but aggressive, he prophesied till this Second Temple 
stood complete and ready for worshipers. Four fragments 
of his prophecies are left to us : the summons to rebuild, de- 
livered in September ; a message of encouragement, given in 
October ; the virtue of perseverance, proclaimed in December ; 
and on the same date a special assurance to Zerubbabel, the 
civil leader. 

2. Zechariah, son of Bereohiah, must have been born and 
bred in Babylon. Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he was priest 
as well as prophet. Though seemingly much younger, he began 
his ministry only two months later than Haggai. He is said 
to have had much to do with the reorganization of the Temple 
worship. His book is usually divided into two sections : the 
first eight chapters occupied mainly with the visions and 
concerned with the rebuilding of the Temple ; the remaining 
six chapters forecast the Messianic kingdom, declaring the 
overthrow of its foes, the upbuilding of its representative peo- 
ple, and the final bowing before the divine sovereignty. 

3. Malachi belongs to the closing half, if not quarter, of the 
fifth century before Christ ; he was, therefore, from sixty to 
a hundred years later than Zechariah. Of his personal history 
nothing is known ; his name occurs nowhere else, either in 
Scripture or in tradition. Judah was still a Persian province. 
The Temple in Jerusalem had been finished, but the people 
were careless in its worship and contemptuous of duty to 



X30 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

God. The evils corrected in the prophecy of Malachi were 
similar to those encountered by the reformers, Ezra and Nehe- 
miah : a depraved priesthood, alien marriages, the neglected 
tithes, and the cavils of the wicked. There is also the promise 
of the Messenger of the Covenant and of the second Elijah to 
herald His glorious advent. 



REVIEW. 

Study Section — Psalm 137 — Weeping in Captivity. 
Second Quarter. Lesson XIII. 

We have now rapidly sketched the poetical and prophetical 
literature of the Old Testament — twenty-two books in all, by 
about as many authors. In their broadest sweep they extend 
from Moses, author of the oldest Psalm, to Malachi, writer of 
the last prophecy. The period of their production as books 
opens with the united monarchy under David and Solomon, 
includes the story of the disrupted kingdom, and sweeps through 
the captivity into the era of restoration. They belong, there- 
fore, upon the brightest and darkest pages of Israel's history. 

1. The Poetical Books. — ^^The five books thus characterized be- 
long not to the Mosaic nor to the Exilian eras of poetic activity, 
but to the Davidic, in which David and Solomon were the 
principal figures. In form. Job is dramatic ; Psalms and the 
Song are lyrical ; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are didactic. As to 
matter. Job deals with the problem of human suffering ; the 
Psalms are chiefly hymns of praise ; the Proverbs center about 
and exhibit wisdom; Ecclesiastes emphasizes the vanity of 
things earthly ; and the Song of Solomon is a poem of pure 
and faithful love. 

2. The Major Prophets. — So-called because of their length as 
related to the other prophecies, these five books were written by 
four men. Isaiah, an influential resident of Jerusalem, and for 
perhaps sixty years an active prophet, left a work which 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 1g1 

stands at the summit of all prophecy. Jeremiah, seventy years 
later than Isaiah, prophesied for at least forty-one years, and 
left two books : the prophecy relating to Judah and Gentile 
nations ; the Lamentations being alphabetical elegies over the 
fall of Jerusalem. Ezekiel was a native of Judah, but for most 
of his life a captive by Chebar in Babylonia, where he prophe- 
sied for at least twenty-two years ; his book was written 
partly before and partly after the fall of Jerusalem. Daniel, 
born at Jerusalem, and taken captive to Babylon some years 
before Ezekiel, rose to the highest official positions in both 
the Chaldean and Medo-Persian empires, lived through the 
entire period of the Captivity, and in his book became the 
founder of apocalyptic literature. 

3. The Minor Prophets. — ^Thus designated because of their 
brevity, the last twelve books of the 'Old Testament were origi- 
nally united under the title, "The Book of the Twelve Prophets." 
Four of them belonged to the northern kingdom : Hosea, Amos, 
and Jonah, while the nation was declining ; Nahum, after' 
Samaria had fallen. Five belonged to the southern kingdom 
w^hile the nation was still intact, though moving downward to 
its fate: Joel, Obadiah, Micah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. 
And three belonged to the period of the Exile and the Restora- 
tion : Haggai and Zechariah, who stimulated the building of 
the Second Temple ; and, perhaps three-quarters of a century 
later, Malachi, who closed the canon with the denunciation of 
sin and the promise of the Messianic age. 



182 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

SECTION III. 
New Testament — The Histories and General Epistles. 

TWELVE BOOKS. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

Study Section — Matthew 5 : 17-48 — The Old and the 'New. 
Third Quarter. Lesson I. 

1. Title. — The second part of the Bible'i is called the New 
Testament, because it embraces the sacred writings produced 
under the New (or Christian) Covenant. 

2. Composition. — ^The twenty-seven books of the New Testa- 
ment were written by eight of the disciples of Christ. Four- 
teen books (if we include Hebrews) were written by Paul; 
five by John ; two each by Luke and Peter ;* one each by Mat- 
thew, Mark, James, and Jude. The language employed was 
Greek, which was the language of culture and commerce 
throughout the civilized world. All the books appeared during 
the latter half of the first century of our era. Very likely seven 
were written during the fifties — James and six of Paul's let- 
ters ; sixteen in the sixties — the other eight Pauline Epistles, 
the Epistles of Peter and Jude, four histories and Revelation ; 
and four in the nineties — the Gospel and Epistles of John. 

3. Canon. — The Old Testament was the only Scripture of 
the early Christians. For an account of the teaching and 
works of Christ, they relied more on oral testimony than writ- 
ten record. But in the second century the Gospels and Epistles, 
first kept in two separate volumes, were rescued from the 
mass of general literature. The complete canon, as we now 
have it, was virtually fixed by the end of the second century. 

4. Order. — The present arrangement of the books is not chro- 
nological, but it is convenient to have the Epistles between the 
Histories and Revelation. Recent critical editions of the Greek 



184 CONVENTION NOEMAL MANUAL. 

text follow the order found in most of the older manuscripts: 
Gospels, Acts, Catholic Epistles, Pauline Epistles (Hebrews 
standing just before the Pastoral Epistles), and Revelation. 

5. Contents. — ^The New Testament falls broadly into three 
sections : History, Doctrine, and Prophecy. History includes 
the first five books — the four Gospels giving four distinct views 
of Christ, and the Acts giving a sketch of the first forty years 
of the Christian Churches under the leadership of Peter among 
the Jews, and Paul among the Gentiles. Doctrine includes the 
fourteen Pauline Epistles, ten of which w^ere addressed to 
churches and four to individuals, and the seven Catholic Epis- 
tles by James, Peter, John, and Jude, which were circular 
letters sent out to all the churches. Prophecy contains only "^ 
the book of Revelation, the Apocalyptic Epistle, which is a 
prophetic outlook into the future. 



THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 

Study Section — Luke 1:1-3; Acts 1:1-14 — The Prefaces hy 

Luke, 
Third Quarter. Lesson II. 

Of the five historical books of the New Testament, the four 
first are each devoted to a life of Christ, and the last con- 
tains the earliest history of the Christian Churches. 

1. The Synoptic Gospels. — Since the eighteenth century the 
first three Gospels have been thus styled, because they are large- 
ly composed of parallel narratives. They were all written by 
the men whose names they bear, and appeared a very few 
years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The re- 
semblance existing between these books chiefly consist in the 
same general historical outline, an almost identical series of 
incidents, a similar method of narration, and frequently a 
striking verbal agreement, yet there is suflicient divergence to 
mark each writer's individuality and reveal the independence 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. ]^g5 

Of his work ; thus each contains peculiarities of style and 
vocabulary, embodies exclusive material, states the same fact 
differently from the others, and, in particular, presents a pecu- 
liar conception of our Lord. Together they formed the earliest 
and for forty years the only records of the life and work of 
Jesus. 

2. The Fourth Gospel. — ^Writing toward the close of the first 
century, John was the latest of the gospel writers, and his 
book may properly be regarded a supplement to the Synoptic 
Gospels. In common with them, he relates only three facts 
aside from the Passion : feeding the five thousand, the storm 
on the sea of Galilee, and the anointing of the Savior's feet by 
Mary. While they dwell chiefiy on the life of Jesus in Galilee, 
John records the ministry in Judea. The spiritual personality 
of Christ, the proofs of His divinity are given by John, while 
the other Gospels lay their chief stress upon the works and 
teachings of Jesus. An eye-w^itness of the events he describes, 
and in a style more discursive than his predecessors, John 
writes the final pages of the Messiah's earth-life. 

3. The Acts of the Apostles. — The last of the histories relates 
the development, rapid progress, and triumphs of the infant 
church during the first two-score years of its existence. It telli* 
how the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit, spread among 
both Jews and Gentiles in ever-widening circles. Disclosing 
the character and order of the first Christian churches and 
vividly sketching some of the primitive missionaries, Acts is 
properly the connecting link between the Gospels and the 
Epistles. 



MATTHEW. 

Study Section — Matthew 9: 9-17 — The Call and Feast of 

Mattheto. 

Thikd Quarter. Lesson III. 

The first Gospel was written by Matthew, son of Alpheus, 
native of Galilee, receiver of customs at Capernaum, and after- 



]^gg CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

ward one of the twelve Apostles. Composed shortly before 
the fall of Jerusalem, it was intended primarily for Jewish 
converts to the Christian faith within and beyond Palestine. 
Its evident design was to prove the Messiahship of Jesus : 
hence the great stress laid on the fulfillment of prophecy and 
the repeated presentation of Jesus as the founder and ruler 
of the "kingdom." Topical rather than chronological in its 
arrangement, this book is mainly devoted to a record of the 
Galilean ministry. Another noteworthy feature is the remark- 
ably full reports of the discourses of Jesus, six of these being 
specially prominent. From its opening verses and its tenor 
throughout, it is seen that Matthew is closely connected with 
the Old Testament, and properly marks the transition from the 
Old Theocracy to the New. 

1. Early Years (chapters 1, 2). — With his Davidic ancestry 
proven by genealogy, the story of Jesus opens with an ac- 
count of His miraculous birth. His infancy is marked by the 
visit of the Wise Men, the persecution of Herod, the flight, into 
Egypt, and the return to Nazareth, where he spent the un- 
recorded childhood and youth. 

2. Galilean Ministry (chapters 3-18). — After His baptism and 
temptation in the vicinity of Jericho, Jesus returned to Galilee 
as the chief theater of His future labors. In the foreground 
stands the Sermon on the Mount, delivered just after the choos- 
ing of the Twelve. Then follow many miracles, various mis- 
sionary tours, the utterance of parables, and, as opposition 
deepens, side-trips into the borders of Tyre and Caesarea 
Philippi. From the Mount of Transfiguration there is a swift 
descent to the final tragedy. 

3. Last Days (chapters 19-28). — The final journey lay through 
Perea to Jerusalem. The events of Passion Week followed: 
Sunday with its entry, Monday with its Temple cleansing, 
Tuesday with its two great discourses, Thursday night v>-ith its 
betrayal, Friday with its crucifixion and burial, Saturday with 
its guard around the tomb, and Sunday with the resurrection 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. \g'J 

and appearance to the women. Tlien later came the appearance 
on the Galilean mountain and the Great Commission. 



MARK. 

Study Section — Mark 9 :2-13 — The Transfiguration. 
Third Quarter. Lesson IV. 

John Mark, the ^Yriter of the second Gospel, was a Levite, 
nephe^v of Barnabas, and Peter's son in the gospel ; he was the 
fellow-helper of Paul and Barnabas on their first journc-y, of 
Barnabas on his second tour, of Paul again during his first 
Roman imprisonment, of Peter at Babylon, and of Timothy at 
Ephesus just prior to the execution of Paul. He wrote his 
gospel very probably at the dictation of Peter, and within the 
five years preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. It was 
primarily intended for Gentile readers, and hence the claims 
of Jesus are presented on the basis of His work rather than His 
teaching or fulfillment of prophecy. Concise even to the omis- 
sion of preface and conclusion, yet minute and picturesque in 
many details, it is the oldest and shortest of the four Gospels. 

1. Fro7n Baptism to Transfiguration (chapters 1-9). — With 
a glance at the forerunner's ministry, the baptism and temp- 
tation of Jesus, the writer moves rapidly into the great Galilean 
ministry, which, with its miracles, discourses, missions, and 
retirements, is graphically sketched to its culmination on the 
Mount of Transfiguration. 

2. From Transfiguration to Ascension (chapters 10-16). — 
Back into the now unfriendly Galilee returns Jesus, and on- 
ward through Perea to Judea with its closing events. The 
Passion Week is briefly surveyed from Sunday, with its trium- 
phal entry, to Friday, with its cross and sepulcher. Finally 
comes the resurrection, a few of the appearances of the risen 
Lord, and then, in a single verse, the ascension scene. 



3^88 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

LUKE. 

Study Section — Luke 23 — From the Trial to the Tonib. 
Third Quarter. Lesson V. 

The third Gospel was written by Luke, a physician beloved 
and cultured, a convert under the ministry of Paul, the inti- 
mate associate of the Great Apostle on his second and third 
missionary journeys, his companion* also in Jerusalem, and on 
the memorable journey to Rome, and his faithful fellow-^'helper 
through both imprisonments to the martyrdom by order of 
Nero. Composed during the latter sixties, after the most 
thorough historical investigation, and possibly with the per- 
sonal assistance of Paul, it was addressed to Theophilus and 
intended for general circulation among the Gentiles through- 
out the Roman Empire. The humanity of Christ is empha- 
sized by Luke, special attention is given to the chronoiogical 
order of the leading events, and in the scope of its material, 
covering the entire period from the Annunciation to the Ascen- 
sion, this is the fullest and most complete of the Four Gospels. 

1. The Private Life (chapters 1-3). — The annunciations to 
Zacharias and Mary, the visit of Mary to Elizabeth, and the 
birth of the Baptist is followed by the birth of Jesus and the 
visit of the shepherds. The circumcision and presentation in 
the Temple are the incidents of the infancy ; the visit to Jeru- 
salem at twelve, the sole incident of His youth ; and at thirty 
He appears before the Baptist at Jordan and then begins 
His public career. 

2. The Galilean Ministry (chapters 4-9). — The return to 
Nazareth and rejection; then the removal to Capernaum, the 
scene of miracles, parables, sermons, converts, and the starting 
point of missionary tours ; deepening opposition, frequent w^ith- 
drawal, and final departure; and the great w^ork in Galilee is 
over. \ 

3. The Perean Ministry (chapters 10-19). — From Galilee to 
Jerusalem the chosen path lay east of the Jordan ; some weeks 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. ]^89 

were spent in effective ministry on the way, and the journey 
concluded with the arrival at Bethany. 

4. The Passion Week (chapters 19-23). — Swiftly events pass 
before us ; Sunday with its triumph, Tuesday with its trouble, 
Thursday with its treachery, and Friday with its tragedy. 

5. The Forty Days (chapter 24). — The appearances of the 
lamented Master fall in the period from the resurrection to the 
ascension. 



JOHN. 

Study Sections- — John 21 — ''Lovest Thou MeV 
Third Quarter. Lesson VI. 

The author of the fourth Gospel was John, son of Zebedee, 
brother of James, one of the first followers of Jesus, and later 
distinguished as the beloved disciple ; after the ascension he 
labored with Peter at Jerusalem, caring for the mother of 
Jesus till her death ; then removed to Ephesus, suffered exile 
on Patmos, was liberated and died about the close of the first 
century. This latest of the New Testament books appeared not 
long before the author's death, and was written i^rimariiy for 
the churches in Ephesus and Western Asia Minor. In keeping 
with the first paragraph, the divine nature of Jesus is given 
particular emphasis throughout the book. Being supplemental 
to the other Gospels, it has little in common with them, except 
the events of crucifixion week. Of the eleven discourses of 
Christ in John, special stress is laid on the last utterances, 
one-third of the entire book dealing w^ith the twenty-four hours 
preceding the death on the cross. The scenes of this Gospel 
are laid principally in Jerusalem. 

1. The Ministry Begun (chapters 1-4). — Opening with the 
testimony of the Baptist and the call of the first five disciples 
on the banks of the lower Jordan, the story moves to Cana, 
with its first miracle, and a short stay in Capernaum. Then the 



]^90 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

early ministry in Judea begins with the first cleansing of the 
Temple and the conversation with Nicodemus, widens out for 
a period of preaching in Judea, drifts northward into Sama- 
ria, and again centers in Galilee. 

2. The Ministry Opposed (chapters 5-11). — The incident of 
the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda reveals the growing 
hostility of the ecclesiastics in Jerusalem. The feeding of the 
five thousand marks the crisis at Capernaum. The attendance 
at the feasts of Tabernacles and of Dedication, with the dis- 
courses and miracle, and the raising of Lazarus was followed 
by the retirement to Ephraim, last of the withdrawals before 
the tide of Jewish hate. 

3. The Ministry Consummated (chapters 12-21). — ^The anoint- 
ing at Bethany contained its sad forecast, not averted by the 
triumphal entry, ominous in the Jews' rejection of Jesus, more 
distinctly set forth in and after the Last Supper, but reaching 
its fulfillment in the tragic events of the ensuing Friday. But 
the day of resurrection came ; then various appearances ; then 
the ascension to the right hand of the Father ! 



THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 

Study Section — Acts 2 — The Advent of the Spirit. 
Third Quarter. • Lesson VII. 

The last of the New Testament histories, far from being a 
full account of the transactions of the Twelve, does not attempt 
a record of the apostolic body ; little is said of any one of them 
except Peter, and the chief incidents cluster around the Apostle 
to the Gentiles. The book was doubtless written by Luke, the 
author of the third Gospel, being prepared with the same pains- 
taking care and marked by the same historical accuracy. The 
date of composition was probably about 64 A.D. It is a contin- 
uation of Luke, begins precisely where that Gospel closes, and 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. IQ^ 

carries forward the history from the ascension in the year 30 
to the close of Paul's first Roman imprisonment in 63. Re- 
cording the work of the Spirit in the apostolic age, the mission- 
ary endeavors of the early church, and representative dis- 
courses of the primitive preachers, the book of Acts is fittingly 
the sequel to the Gospels and the preface to the Epistles. 

1. The Churches in Palestine (chapters 1-12). — For ten days 
after the ascension the disciples in Jerusalem awaited the 
promise of the Spirit. On the day of Peiitecost He came, 
Peter preached, and a mutitude was converted. Rapidly grew 
the church, only to arouse hostility : first from the Sanhedrin, 
who arraigned Peter and John ; then from falsity within, in 
the person of Ananias and Sapphira ; and again from the 
Sanhedrin, who compassed the death of Stephen, foremost of 
the seven deacons. With such Jewish rejection of the gospel in 
Jerusalem, the disciples scattered over Judea and Samaria, and 
their ministry extended to the Gentiles, notably the Ethiopian 
eunuch, and Cornelius, the centurion. A new force appears in 
the person of Paul, Antioch becomes the great Christian center, 
and there is a backward look to the mother church only to note 
the miraculous deliverance of Peter, its leader, and the death 
of Herod Agrippa, its persecutor. 

2. The Missions of Paul (chapters 13-28). — The first mission- 
ary journey, made with Barnabas, extended to various cities in 
Asia Minor. The council at Jerusalem settled the relation of 
Jewish rites to Christian liberty. The second missionary jour- 
ney extended to Europe, and was marked by the eighteen 
months' ministry at Corinth. The third missionary journey 
retraced former travels, and was marked by the three years' 
ministry in Ephesus. The ensuing visit to Jerusalem terminated 
in Paul's arrest and his imprisonment at Caesarea. Later came 
the stormy voyage to Rome and the first imprisonment there. 



192 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

THE GENERAL EPISTLES. 

Sl'UDY Section — 1 John 1 — The Writer and the Message. 

Third Quarter. Lesson VIII. 

1. The Epistles. — The seven epistles by James, Peter, John, 
and Jude are usually styled the Catholic, or General, Epistles. 
Originally only First John and First Peter were thus desig- 
nated, and because they were not addressed to any particular 
church or individual. Later the title was extended to the entire 
group. By some scholars the letters of James and John are 
regarded respectively as the earliest and the latest of the New 
Testament writings. As to their length, three contain five 
chapters each and three one chapter each, while one contains 
three chapters. 

2. The Writers. — Of these letters three were written by John, 
two by Peter, one each by James and Jude. John was the 
beloved disciple and apostle, author of the fourth Gospel and 
the Revelation, and the only survivor of the Twelve during 
the last decade of the first century. The closing days of Peter 
were spent as a foreign missionary, and from far-distant Baby- 
lon his letters were written. James was the brother of the Lord 
and the leading figure in the early church at Jerusalem. Jude 
was probably the brother of the James just mentioned, and like- 
wise related to the Lord. All four of these writers were apos- 
tles, with the possible exception of Jude. 

3. The Readers. — While these letters were circular, they were 
yet called forth by special circumstances, and written with 
definite audiences in view. Thus James addressed the twelve 
tribes of the Dispersion, his designation of the scattered Jewish 
Christians. Peter, in his first letter, wrote to the Christian 
"sojourners" in various provinces of Asia Minor ; in the second 
he had much the same group in mind, but widened his address 
to "them that have obtained a like precious faith." Of John's 
letters, the first is without inscription, but .frequent mention 
of "my little children" marks the readers as under his apos- 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. J^93 

tolic oversight in the vicinity of Ephesiis ; the second was 
written to an unlcnown "elect lady and her children ;" the third", 
to Gains, a hospitable Christian layman. Jude, with broader 
sweep, writes "to them that are called, beloved, . . . and 
kept." 

4. The View-point. — It has been observed (Farrar) that 
James and Jude belong to the Jewish school of Christian 
thought, emphasizing the Law and regarding Christianity more 
as a fulfillment than as an inauguration. Peter represents 
a position broader than that of James, yet not so catholic as 
that of Paul. John, in the final utterances of Christian reve- 
lation, reveals the completed faith and practice of the apos- 
tolic churches. In James emphasis is laid upon work^; in 
Peter, upon hope; in John, upon love.; and in Jude, upon 
judgment. 



JAMES. 

Study Section — James 2:14-20 — Faith and Works. 
Third Quabtee. Lesson IX. 

1. The Author. — From the earliest times the writer of this 
epistle has been recognized as the brother of our Lord (Mark 
6:3). Some think he was also one of the twelve apostles. That 
Jesus appeared to him before the ascension is the chief event 
recorded of him until a decade after Pentecost. He then 
favored the admission of Paul into the church and soon became 
the recognized leader of Christianity in Palestine. Surnamed 
"The Just," because of his conformity to and zeal for the Law, 
he was highly esteemed even among unbelievers, and when, 
about 62 A.D., he was stoned to death by bigoted foes, the 
people of Jerusalem, where he lived, were intensely indignant. 
His execution is believed by many to have been the cause of 
the destruction of the city a few years later. 

2. The Readers. — James writes "to the twelve tribes which 

13 



194 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

are scattered abroad." For raany years the Jews outside of 
Palestine, whose tribal organization was really lost, had been 
given the general title of *'The Dispersion." Yet James evi- 
dently does not write to Jews by religion as well as race, for he 
assumes that they already *'have faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the Lord of glory." Nor w^as the letter addressed to 
the twelve tribes of the Dispersion as figurative of the whole 
Christian Church, for they could speak of "Abraham our 
father." We conclude, therefore, that it was primarily designed 
for Christian Jews living beyond Palestine. No particular 
locality is menT:ioned, but it would seem natural that the Syrian 
churches were specially in the mind of the writer. 

3. The Epistle. — In the absence of date, definite historical 
reference, or mention of contemporary writer, the time of com- 
position is a matter of uncertainty ; it is placed anywhere 
between 45 and 62 A.D. Most probably it was written at Jeru- 
salem, thus being, perhaps, the only book of the New Testa- 
ment written there. The object of the writer was eminently 
practical and directed in the main to the admonition of the 
persecuted Christians and the warning of evil-doers. Thus 
the tempted are encouraged, the Bible-reader is directed, the 
believing are stimulated to works, and all are exhorted to en- 
durance and prayer. The evil-doers are likewise warned 
against arrogance, abuse of the tongue, strife-sowing, and 
covetousness. Very properly the epistle has been styled a 
treatise on practical Christianity. 



THE EPISTLES OF PETER. 

Study Section — 2 Peter 3: 1-18 — The Dal of the Lord. 

Third Quarter. Lesson X. 

1. The Author. — Peter, the blunt Galilean fisherman, called 

to follow Jesus, became the most prominent and the most human 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, J95 

of the t^yelve Apostles. Sifted as wheat during the Lord's trial, 
he entered upon a more steadfast love and loyalty. The chief 
preacher at Pentecost, and the foremost figure among ttie early 
Christians, he was soon eclipsed by Paul, the peerless mission- 
ary. Led by vision and subsequent ministry to Cornelius to 
believe in and favor the admission of Gentiles into the churches, 
he some years later wavered under special pressure on this 
point, but Paul withstood and counteracted the error (Gal. 
2:11-14). Then, again, Peter disappears for a period, during 
which he probably labored as a missionary in distant lands, 
until near the close of his career, he writes from Baby4on 
the letters bearing his name. 

2. The First Letter. — The churches in Asia Minor were sub- 
jected to annoyances and reproach among their neighbors : by 
the Jews for abandoning ceremonial observances, and by the 
Gentiles for not joining in idolatrous rioting, as of old ; and 
this feeling was liable to break out into extreme persecution. 
This intelligence was borne by Silvanus to Peter, then laboring 
among the many Jews in Babylon, on the Euphrates. ' The 
time was not later than 66 nor earlier than 63 A.D. ; certainly 
before the destruction of Jerusalem. In response to the need 
and demand of the troubled churches of the west, Peter wrote 
this first epistle, addressing the Christians generally in Asia 
Minor, naming the countries from northeast to south and west. 
The practical object in view was the encouragement of those 
who were sufif«*ing on account of their faith ; their minds were 
lifted from present trials and occupied with the hope of 
heaven. The privileges of Christians eclipse their trials, and 
the path of duty is clear, though beclouded w^ith suffering. 

3. The Second Letter. — In the churches w^as rising a new 
danger, one more subtle and destroying than the persecufion 
they had been called to endure ; it was false teaching at the 
mouth of professed friends. Peter, therefore, writes again, 
widening his address so as to include all "those who have faith 
in Christ," and seeking both to counteract the work of the 



196 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

heretics and to exhort believers to steadfastness in their faith. 
While the former epistle came to the persecuted, inciting them 
to hope, this implies exposure to heresy and emphasizes knowl- 
edge of the truth. It was written perhaps like the first at 
Babjion, but a j^ear or two later, and shortly before Peter's 
execution, about G8 A.D. 



THE EPISTLES OF JOHN. 
Study Section— 1 John 4: 7-21 — God is Love. 
Third Quarter. Lesson XI. 

The three epistles of John were written by the beloved disci- 
ple and apostle bearing that name. It is thought that he left 
Jerusalem about GT A.D., perhaps soon after the death of 
Mary, the mother of Jesus, and that he traveled westward 
through Asia Minor. After about two years' exile on Patmos, 
Jie settled at Ephesus, where he remained till his death, toward 
the close of the first century. These letters were evidently 
produced during his old age, and probably between SO and 95 
A.D. The first is addressed to the churches at large, the sec- 
ond and third to individuals. They emphasize the idea that 
while Peter founded and Paul propagated, it was John who 
completed the structure of the apostolic churches. 

1. First John. — ^This is more like a treatise than an epistle, 
since it is without inscription, salutation, or benediction. It 
is, however, pastoral in its nature, and while adapted to the 
church at large, it was, doubtless, primarily designed for the 
churches in Asia Minor, which were threatened with heresy, 
particularly the denial of the truth that God had been manifest 
in the flesh. The nature of the true faith and its confirmation 
are, therefore, emphasized. The epistle has been broadly out- 
lined as containing, in the first two chapters, the truth that 
God is light, and in the remaining three that God is love. 

2. Second John. — Not long after the first epistle was written. 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 197 

the second appeared. It was addressed to "the elect ladj^" un- 
derstood by some to mean a church, and by others to be a 
proper name ; but more likely it is to be taken literally. The 
sons of this unknown Christian woman, though walking in the 
truth, were in danger of imbibing heresy by a mistaken hos- 
pitality to false teachers. The Apostle, therefore, urges a 
sacred exclusiveness ; let them be hospitable, but not when hos- 
pitality means the endorsement and encouragement of error. 

8. Third John. — ^^The duty which demands inhospitality to 
error and errorists, likewise insists upon hospitality to the truth 
and its agents. The early Christian missionaries had been hin- 
dered because not always received and aided by the- brother- 
hood. For certain of these, wliom the haughty Diotrephes had 
turned away, tlie aged Apostle writes to Gains, a well-to-do lay- 
man converted under his ministrj^ and residing in the Ephesian 
district, bespeaking a hearty welcome and generous assistance. 
And so in this letter we liave the final picture of a Christian 
Church near the close of the apostolic era. 



JUDE. 

Study Section — Jude 17-23 — The Christian and Heresy. 
Third Quarter. Lesson XII. 

1. The Author. — It is probable that the writer of this letter 
was not the apostle, but the brother of our Lord, and of James, 
the author of the epistle bearing liis name. Practically nothing 
is known of his history except what is implied here, and the 
fact that, in common with his brethren, he was slow to accept 
the Messiahship of Jesus. Very likely he was indebted to Peter 
for much of the thought contained in his letter. He seems to 
have been a resident of Palestine, probably confined his minis- 
try mainly to the Jews, and certainly belonged with James 
to the Judaic school of Christianity. 



3^98 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

2. The Readers. — The first destination of this letter is not 
certainly known. That Jude addressed Jewish Christians is 
very probable, but whether they lived in Palestine, Syria, Cor- 
inth, or Egypt, cannot be positively asserted. But wherever 
resident, they were troubled with false teachers, who are de- 
scribed as "libertines in conduct, with perverted views of di- 
vine grace and Christian liberty." The rising -of these adver- 
saries caused a laxity in Christian doctrine, which demanded 
the correction of scriptural warning and exhortation. 

3. The Letter. — The date of its composition has been consid- 
ered as shortly before or soon after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, in 70 A.D. The purpose of the writer was to confirm the 
existing faith of Christians, to warn against and denounce the 
errorists, and in the love of God to keep above the tides of 
heresy. Thus the letter opens with a Christian salutation and 
announces the epistolary motive ; then dwells upon past penalty, 
present wickedness, fulfilled prophecy, and inspirited faith ; 
and closes with the benediction. 



REVIEW. 



Study Section— Matthew 13: 31-33— T//c Mustard and the 

Leaven. 
Third Quarter. . Lesson XIII. 

In the past quarter, after a glance at the New Testament 
as a whole, we have taken up the five histories — four on the 
life of Christ and one on the early church — and the seven gen- 
eral epistles. 

1. The Life of Christ. — For our fourfold story of the Messiah 
we are indebted to Matthew, the publican apostle ; Mark, the 
companion of Peter ; Luke, the medical associate of Paul ; and 
John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. By the first our Lord 
was presented to the Jews as the Messiah, fulfilling the ancient 



34^30' 




Xongitude 35 Zaet 



tUPOATES, ENSRiM^t. 



200 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

prophecies ; by the second, He was revealed to the Romans as 
the miracle-working Son of God; by the third, in more sys- 
tematic treatise, His humanity is emphasized before the Greeks ; 
and in the last, His divinity is unfolded before the world. 
Mark begins with the ministry, Matthew traces back to Abra- 
ham, Luke to Adam, and John to the throne of Deity in eter- 
nity unbegun. Matthew and Luke dwell on the infancy and 
childhood, John on the early Judean ministry, the three Synop- 
tics at length on the great Galilean ministry, Luke on the min- 
istry in Perea, all four on the events of crucifixion week, fol- 
lowed by the resurrection, appearances, and ascension. 

2. The Early Churches. — Taking up the story where his gospel 
closes, Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, traces events of the 
apostolic age through nearly two-score years. The descent of 
the Spirit at Pentecost was the great beginning. Peter stood 
forth then and for years afterward as the most commanding 
figure among Christians. Scattered from Jerusalem by perse- 
cution, the disciples went everywhere, preaching the word, and 
some Gentiles were admitted into the churches. After a time 
Paul appears and thenceforward occupies the foremost place as 
the chief defender and disseminator of the Christian faith. 
So successful were his three great missionary tours through 
Western Asia and Southern Europe that when he was first im- 
prisoned at Rome (as recorded in the last chapter of Acts), 
there were vigorous young churches in all the principal cen- 
ters of the Roman Empire. 

3. The General Epistles. — ^The letters by James, Peter, John, 
and Jude are more or less of a circular nature, though only one 
lacks a definite inscription. In the main they were produced 
during troublous times, when the churches w^ere either suffer- 
ing from the fires of persecution, or exposed to the waves of 
false teaching. James and Jude, both of Jewish bent, empha- 
size the works of the good and the punishment of the bad ; 
Peter, of moderate Gentile sympathy, writes of hope to the 
tried and of knowledge to the uninformed ; while John, with 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 201 

loftier and broader view, writes to all the world that God is 
love. 



SECTION IV. 
New Testament — The Pauline Epistles and the Revelation. 

Fifteen Books. 



THE PAULINE EPISTLES. 

Study Section — Acts 9 : 1-30 — The Conversion of Paul. 
FouKTH Quarter. Lesson I. 

1. Author. — The qualifications of Paul for sacred authorship 
exceeded those of any other of the New Testament writers. 
He was highly educated in Greek literature and general culture. 
He was thoroughly versed in Jewish law and tradition. With 
ardor and success he had studied and mastered the doctrines of 
Christianity. He was engaged in a vast missionary work, 
traveling extensively, organizing numerous churches, and 
preaching with power, both to Jews and Gentiles. He had par- 
ticipated in a long series of debates over all possible points of 
the Jewish and Christian faith. And finally he had a consider- 
able pastoral experience in confirming, correcting, aud instruct- 
ing the various churches. This course of rigid, enthusiastic 
labor continued about fourteen years before any of the epis- 
tles were written. The Apostle's toil, both literary and pas- 
toral, was so important and influential that he has been called 
the Christian Moses. 

2. Aim. — The burning desire of Paul was to disseminate the 
living principles of the gospel. The burden of his writings 
is to declare that salvation, secured only through Christ and 
not by the works of the Law, is open to Jew and Gentile, who 
are both in equal need and equally capable of enjoying its priv- 



202 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

ileges. Some other features of his main pm'pose were : to leave 
a permanent record of truth ; to throw authoritative light upon 
peculiar circumstances ; to comfort believers in their work and 
inspire them to yet nobler effort ; to correct incipient error and 
preserve the churches from subsequent heresy ; to win ad- 
herents to the true faith from all classes and everywhere. 

3. Chronology. — With even an approximate chronology, we 
more clearly understand a writer's circumstances and better 
observe the growth and harmony of his ideas. Though the 
dates of the Pauline letters cannot be determined with abso- 
lute certainty, the following are highly probable : First and 
Second Thessalonians were written in 53, about fifteen years 
after Paul's conversion ; after a lapse of five years, First and 
Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans were written ; the 
close of the next four years finds Paul in prison, where, in a 
few months, he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 
Philemon ; three or four years later, the pastoral epistles to 
Timothy and Titiis appear. Hence we have four chronological 
clusters of Pauline EJ^istles written during the thirteen years 
between 53 and 66 A. D. 



ROMANS. 

Study Section — Romans 8 — The Believer's Privileges. 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson II. 

1. The Church. — In New Testament times, Rome, lying on the 
seven hills by the Tiber, and containing twelve hundred thou- 
sand inhabitants, was the metropolis of the world. For many 
years, and in spite of persecution, the Jews in Rome were 
numerous, wealthy and influential. The introduction of Chris- 
tianity and the founding of the church was effected by neither 
Peter nor Paul ; but since the Roman Jews were in constant 
communication with Jerusalem, it is generally believed that 
tlie **iStr angers from Rome," present at Pentecost, were con- 



204 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

verted and returned to declare the achievements of the new 
faith and set its standard in the imperial city. In the compo- 
sition of the church, three prominent nationalities were repre- 
sented : The Jews, the Romans, and the Greeks. The member- 
ship was, therefore, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, the 
latter being possiblj^ the more numerous. The type of Chris- 
tianity seems to have been neither actively Pauline nor posi- 
tively Jewish-Christian ; as yet the doctrinal differences, exist- 
ent elsewhere, had not entered the church at Rome. 

2. The Circumstances. — In the great receiving and distribut- 
ing center of the w^orld, Paul naturally wished to promulgate 
Christian doctrine. While at Corinth during the winter of 
57-58 A.D., he decides to visit Rome, after carrying to Jerusa- 
lem a poor fund collected from the churches of Macedonia and 
Achaia. Before leaving for Palestine, he writes this letter to 
the Romans to supply the lack of needed personal teaching, to 
pave the way for his intended visit, and to prepare the church 
to aid him on the proposed mission into Spain. Since Phoebe, 
a deaconess, of the Cenchrean Church, was on the eve of de- 
parture for Rome, it is thought that she conveyed the letter to 
its destination. 

, 3. The Epistle. — In this letter we have the fullest and most 
systematic exposition of the Apostle's teaching ; some one has 
described it as "the religious philosophy of the world's history." 
It is marked by two great divisions of thought — doctrinal and 
ethical. In the first, covering eleven chapters, the central 
themes are justification and sanctification by faith — the 
one way of salvation for Jew and Gentile. The all-suffi- 
ciency of this faith is forcibly presented and strongly em- 
phasized. The second part, which includes the remaining five 
chapters, is devoted to an exposition of practical affairs, the 
last chapter containing various salutations and the conclusion 
of the Epistle. 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 205 

FIRST AND SECOND CORINTHIANS. 

Study Section — 1 Cor. 13 — Tlie Excellence of Love. 

Fourth Quarter. Lesson III. 

1. Christianity at Corinth. — Renowned at the time of Paul 
for its commerce, manufactures, art, and learning, Corinth was 
equally famous for its vices, notably its dissolute manners and 
shameful licentiousness. On his second missionarj^ journey, 
Paul, with Silas and Timothy, spent eighteen months at Cor- 
inth, winning, in the face of Jewish hostility, numerous con- 
verts, mainly from the poorer classes, and establishing a church, 
including some Jews and many Gentiles. After a time vicious 
teachers came and four factions arose in the church : a Paul- 
ine party, overzealous for the founder of the church ; an Ap- 
pollonian party, bewitched by the oratory of Apollos ; a Petrine 
party, which, claiming Peter as authority, was bent on mixing 
up Jewish ideas with Christianity ; and a Christ party, which, 
in antagonizing other elements, became itself a faction. The 
natural outcome of these dissensions was a loose discipline, 
abundant irregularities, and a rapid decline from original 
purity. In response to these special needs, Paul wrote these 
letters, which are said to be the most lucid and complete of all 
the Epistles. 

2. First Corinthians. — Hearing from the household of Chloe, 
of the state of the church, and in response to written inquiries 
from certain of its members, Paul wrote this letter shortly be- 
fore leaving Ephesus, and probably in the spring of 58 A.D. 
It was sent perhaps by the three Corinthians who had come 
to visit Paul. The letter contains requested instruction about 
marriage, the relation of Christianity to previous circumcision 
or slavery, meat offered to idols, collections for the poor, spiritual 
gifts, and church order ; also it aims at church vices — factional 
strife, lawsuits before heathen judges, inexpedient liberty, licen- 
tious indulgence, and abuse of the Lord's Supper ; and, finally, 



206 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

it asserts the apostolic authority of Paul and presents the his- 
torical proofs of the resurrection. 

3. Second Corinthians. — The instructions of the first letter 
were emphasized by the visit of both Timothy and Titus to 
Corinth. Two or three months later, and when Paul had 
reached Macedonia, on the way to Corinth, he heard from 
Titus of the salutary effect of his letter in the main, though 
there was still a factious minority which depreciated his au- 
thority, misrepresented his motives, and censured his conduct. 
Under the strong and mingled emotions caused by such intelli- 
gence, this second letter was immediately written. It was de- 
signed to carry forward the work of reformation, to caution 
against false teachers, and to prepare the Corinthians for the 
writer's approaching visit. A collection is solicited for the 
poor in Judea, and the Apostle defends himself from the 
calumnies of his critics. 



GALATIANS. 

Study Section — Galatians 5 : 16-2G — The Flesh and the Spirit. 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson IV. 

1. The Churches. — Galatia, deriving its name from its Gallic 
settlers, was a small mountainous district lying in Central 
Asia Minor ; when on his second missionary journey Paul was 
pressing westward to fulfill his mission in Europe, he was 
stricken with an illness w^hich detained him among the Gala- 
tians. The time was employed for the planting of the Chris- 
tian faith in "the region of Galatia." The converts showed 
the Apostle every possible attention, and when, after recovery, 
he departed, they were running the Christian race with energy 
and success. Two years later, Paul, going out on his third 
.tour, again visited Galatia and discovered with sadness the 
symptoms of "alienated affection and weariness in well-doing." 
The Judaizing emissaries had as usual been on his track, oppos- 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 207 

ing his apostolic* autbority, doubting liis doctrine and main- 
taining the necessity of circumcision and the full observance of 
the Jewish law. The presence of Paul doubtless hushed the 
disturbing elements for a time, but after his departure ^ they 
broke out afresh and serious dangers threatened the churches 
of Galatia. 

2, The Circumstances. — The receipt of such intelligence on 
the part of Paul occasioned the immediate writing of this 
letter. Contrary- to his usual custom, he wrote it with his 
own hand. As to the time and place of composition there is 
great diversity of opinion ; possibly it was dated from Mace- 
donia 'in the spring of 58 A.D. The aim of the writer was two- 
fold : first, to repeal the insinuation that he was not an apostle, 
or that he did not stand on an equality with the other apostles ; 
this was necessary to preserve his influence and make perma- 
nent his work among the churches. And, secondly, to expose 
the Judaistic and other errors which had crept into the 
churches and 'deceived the thoughtless Galatians ; hence, he 
establishes the doctrine of justification by faith, and so de- 
molishes the position of hostile teachers. 

3. The Epistle. — In its address to a group of churches, its 
lack of reflection upon the writer's surroundings, its omission 
of thanksgiving and congratulation, and its sustained severity, 
this letter is unique among the writings of Paul. It falls into 
three divisions, each occupying two chapters : apologetic, polem- 
ical, and practical. Thus Paul meets in order the three ele- 
ments of assault against himself and his doctrine — "the dis- 
paragement of his apostleship, the elevation of Judaism to the 
same rank as Christianity, and the insinuation that liberty 
meant license." 



208 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

EPHESIANS. 
Study Section — Epliesiaiis G : 10-20 — The Christian Warrior, 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson V. 

1. The Ephesian Church. — Epliesus was the capital of the 
province of Asia, and one of the free cities of tlie Roman Em- 
pire. A great commercial center, it was also a stronghold of 
idolatry,, being i^articularly renowned for the worship of Diana. 
The people as a whole were luxm*ious and dissolute. Of the 
many Jews resident there, some were at Jerusalem on the day 
of Pentecost, whence they returned to spread the first princi- 
ples of the new faith. Here, also, were some of the disciples 
of the Baptist, the only glimpse we get of them after the 
ascension of Christ. Paul made two visits to Ephesus. The 
first was only a brief stop on the way to Jerusalem. The 
second was the chief event of the third missionary tour, and 
occupied about three years. In the synagogue, in the school 
of Tyrannus, and in the homes of the people he preached and 
taught with much success. For a time after his departure the 
infant church was entrusted to the care of Timothy, under 
whose ministry it continued to fiourish. 

2. The Apostle's Circumstances. — This epistle was written 
by Paul during his first imprisonment at Rome, 61-63 A.D. 
The i^recise date is uncertain, probably about the middle of 
his incarceration. AVhile the Apostle doubtless had the Ephe- 
sians primarily in mind, it is believed that this letter was in- 
tended as a circular to the several churches in the province of 
Asia, of which Ephesus was the chief city. Hence, it lacks the 
usual local coloring, and is without messages of personal greet- 
ing. There is a striking resemblance between Ephesians and 
Colossians, and this is easily accounted for when we remem- 
ber that both letters were written by the same man and prob- 
ably w^ithin a few hours of each other. The same great ideas 
and similar expressions are, therefore, frequently found in 
both epistles. 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 209 

3. The Epistle Summarized, — According to the usual analysis, 
this letter consists of two parts — doctrinal and practical, each 
section occupying respectively three chapters. "The first part 
contains a summary of the Christian doctrines taught by Paul, 
and is especially remarkable for the great prominence given to 
the abolition of the Mosaic law. The hortatory part, so dear 
to Christians of every age, enjoins unity, the renunciation of 
heathen vices, and the practice of Christian purity." 



PHILIPPIANS. 

Study Section — Philippians 2 : 1-11 — Christ Our Pattern. 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson VI. 

1. The Philippian Church. — Philippi, named after its founder, 
Philip of Macedon, was at the time of Paul a prominent city 
of Macedonia, and a Roman colonj^ There were some Jews in 
the city, but it was chiefly occupied by Greeks and Romans. 
Thither Paul, contrary to previous plans, was directed on his 
second missionary journey. There being no synagogue there, 
work was begun by the riverside, beyond the city limits. Lydia 
was the first convert, and others soon followed ; among them, 
her household, the soothsaying damsel, the jailer and his 
household. Thus a strong church was founded, and Philippi 
was the first place in Europe to receive the gospel. The mem- 
bers of that infant church were severely persecuted, but their 
faith remained firm. They were also free from doctrinal 
errors ; the Judaizing party, so frequently on Paul's track, had 
created no schism among them. And, again, their attitude 
towards Paul was marked by the strongest personal attach- 
ment, unfailing obedience to his commands, and liberal contri- 
butions to his support. 

2. The Author's Surroundings. — Various passages in the let- 
ter classify it among the Epistles of Imprisonment. The sec- 

14 



*210 CONVENTION NOKMAL MANUAL. 

ond j^ear of his first imprisonment at Rome was wearing away 
wlien the Philippians sent the Apostle a timely contribution 
for his relief. This was conveyed to Rome by Epaphroditus, 
whose arrival was followed by a dangerous illness. Upon his 
recovery he returned to Philippi, Paul having placed in his 
hands this letter of affectionate remembrance and sincere ap- 
preciation. 

3. The Epistle Summarized. — The least dogmatic of all the 
Pauline writings and containing an unusual amount of personal 
information, this has been described as the most epistolary 
of the Epistles, the easiest and most friendly of letters. All 
the four chapters revolve around Christ as the center. Thus 
it has been pointed out that in the first we have the Gospel 
and Christ the Theme ; in the second. Humility and Christ the 
Pattern ; in the third, Earnestness and Christ the Object ; and 
in the fourth, Peacefulness and Christ the Strength. 



COLOSSIANS. 
Study Section — Colossians 3: 1-17 — The Things Above. 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson VII. 

1. The Cblossian Church. — Colosse was a city of considerable 
consequence, situated on the banks of the river Lycus, in south- 
western Phrygia, which was one of the rich districts of the 
Roman proconsular province of Asia. In early times it was 
both populous and influential, but at length it was overshad- 
owed by Hierapolis and Laodicea, which lay twelve or fifteen 
miles farther down the river. On both his second and third 
missionary journeys Paul entered Phrygia, but it is quite cer- 
tain that he never visited the cities in the valley of the Lycus. 
The immediate founder of the church was probably Epaphras, a 
native Colossian. It is likely that he attended the ministry 
of Paul at Ephesus, and on his return home advocated the 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 211 

Christian faitli and organized a cliurcb in accordance \Yitli 
Pauline doctrine. Tlie membersliip was composed principally 
Of Gentiles, some of whom were well known to Paul. The 
Infant church was particularly exposed to false teaching, which 
has been described as a mixture of Judaism and Oriental phi- 
losopliy. It is not known who introduced these heresies, nor 
to what extent they affected the Colossian cliurch. 

2. The Writer's Surround iiigs. — Paul was now suffering his 
first imprisonment at Rome. News of the Apostle's situation 
and knowledge of the dangers from false teaching at Colosse 
induced Epaphras, the Colossian pastor, to visit Rome with a 
message of cheer for the apostolic prisoner, and a report from 
his church. This report to Paul appears to have been highly 
satisfactory in some respects, but the intelligence of incipient 
error called for immediate attention. Hence the Apostle wrote 
this letter to refute false doctrines, to warn against wiclved 
teachers, and to establish the Colossi ans in the true faith. 

3. The Epistle Summarized. — The first chapter is devoted to 
doctrine : the headship of Christ, the reconciliation of the Colos- 
sians to God through Christ, and the Apostle's message of 
mystery — "Christ in you the hope of glory." The second gives 
warning against error — the vicious philosophy which disre- 
garded the teaching of Christ, the rigid observance of Jewisli 
traditions, the worship of angels, and a false asceticism. The 
third embraces several exhortations — to heavenward affection, 
to avoidance of vice and practice of virtue, and to the perform- 
ance of domestic duties. The fourth, in conclusion, enjoins 
perseverance in prayer and wise conduct before unbelievers, 
conveys Christian greetings, and closes with an autograph 
benediction. 



212 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

FIRST AND SECOND THESSALONIANS. 
Study Section — 1 Thessaloniaiis 4: 13-18 — Tlie Sleeping Saints. 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson VIII. 

1. The Thessalonian Church. — ^Tliessalonica, situated at the 
head of the Thermaic gulf, and in the midst of a most fertile 
district, was at the time of Paul the metropolis of Macedonia 
and a free city, governed by seven native politarchs and occu- 
pied by a mixed population of Jews, Greeks, and Romans. It 
is now called Salonika, and is to-day the second city of Euro- 
pean Turkey. Hither Paul came after release from the Philip- 
pian jail. For three Sabbaths he preached in the sj^nagogue 
(the only one in all this region) with such power that fierce 
persecution follow^ed, and he w^as compelled to flee for his 
life, but not before the establishment of a Christian community. 
In this new church some Jews were gathered, but in all prob- 
ability the majority were Gentiles. While the spiritual state 
of the church was gratifying to its founder, it was not entirely 
free from errors. It was blemished by the introduction of 
heathen vices and by tlie presence of some who assailed the 
motives and character of Paul. 

2. First Thessalonians. — His brief stay in Thessalonica had 
enabled the Apostle to win a number of converts, but gave him 
no time to develop them in work and doctrine. Driven by vio- 
lence from the city, he was forced to leave the infant church 
exposed to various errors, subject to persecution, and with but 
imperfect ■ conceptions of duty. Disappointed in his own desire 
and purpose to revisit them, he sent Timothy to encourage them 
and inform liim of their condition. This report of Timothy 
reached the Apostle at Corinth two or three months after he 
had left Thessalonica, and occasioned the immediate writing 
of this letter. The first three chapters are narrative, and the 
remaining two are occupied with various exhortations. 

3. Second Thessalonians. — In his first letter Paul had written 
of the Lord's coming as imminent, and some of the Thessa- 



THE COOKS OF THE BIBLE. 213 

louians, by misapplication of the truth, had given up their ordi- 
nary' pursuits and were idly \yaiting for the Second Advent. 
An unauthorized use of the Apostle's name had further aggra- 
vated the situation. A note of warning was needed, and so 
Paul, still at Corinth, and only a few months at most after 
writing the first letter, wrote again to correct error and empha- 
size the suddenness rather than the immediacy of the Lord's 
coming. In the three cliapters of the Epistle we have respect- 
ively consolation amid persecution, revelation regarding the 
Man of Sin, and exhortation to prayer and consistency. 



FIRST AND SECOND TIMOTHY. 

Study Sectiox — 2 Timothy 4: 1-8 — Paul's Dying Gliarge. 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson IX. 

The letters of Timothy and Titus are known as the Pastoral 
Epistles, because addressed to them as pastors, and relating 
especially to pastoral duties. 

1. The Evangelist Timotliy. — A native of Lystra, son of a 
Jewess and a Greelv, he received very careful religious training 
from early childhood, and was probably converted at the time 
of Paul's first visit to Lystra. When the Apostle, seven years 
later, again visited this region, he found Timothy "well re- 
ported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium," 
and admirably qualified for evangelistic work. At once Paul 
set him apart for this special work, and thenceforward he was 
one of the most constant and faithful of the great Apostle's 
companions. As associate, co-laborer, special representative, 
and fellow-prisoner, Timothy was the unfailing help and joy 
of his spiritual father. And when imprisoned a second time, 
Paul, knowing his end was near, urgently wrote Tiomthy to 
come at once to hfc side. We do not know, but may reasonably 
believe, that this last recorded wish of Paul was gratified, and 



214 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

that his son in tlie gospel brightened his last hours. It is said 
that Timothy also suffered martyrdom some years later. 

2. First Tiinotliy. — ^^The first letter to Timothy was almost 
certainly ^Yritten in the interim between Paul's two Roman 
imprisonments. From the meager data at hand, it is thought 
to have been written in Macedonia during the summer of G7 
A.D. Timothy was at Ephesus, where he had been left by 
Paul on the Asiatic tour. The six chapters of the Epistle treat 
in the main of the following subjects : Commission of both 
Timothy and Paul ; public duties and behavior ; qualifications 
of pastors and deacons ; false teachers and Timothy's duties ; 
church government ; sound doctrine. 

3. Second Timothy. — This is remarkable as being the last 
extant writing of Paul. It was written only a short time be- 
fore his execution, the probable date being 67 A.D. Timothy 
was still at Ephesus. This letter of "pathetic tenderness aifd 
deep solemnity" may be thus outlined, following the chapter 
divisions : Exhortation to courage and fidelity ; endurance, en- 
ergy, and purity ; dangerous errors contrasted with sound 
doctrine ; closing charge with iDcrsonal intelligence. 



TITUS AND PHILEMON 

Study Section — Titus 2: 11-14 — Th^ Grace of God. 

I'OUETH QUAKTER. LeSSON X. 

1. Titus. — Quite likely the Christian faith was carried to the 
island of Crete by the Cretan Jews who were present at Pente- 
cost. At any rate, Paul found some Christians there, and his 
brief stay was occupied with solidifying and upbuilding the 
churches. On his departure he left Titus, a Greek Christian 
and zealous evangelist, to forward the work which he had not 
the time to finish. It is thought that this tetter was written 
in GO A.D. at Ephesus, as the Apostle was proceeding to Nicop- 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 2l5 

olis to spend the winter. The object of Paul in this letter 
was threefold : first, to place in the hands of Titns an expres- 
sion of esteem and a permanent manual of pastoral guidance. 
Secondly, to give his work the sanction of apostolic authority, 
that it might prove more effective. And, thirdly, to convey 
needed counsels and instructions to Titus relative to the duties 
and difficulties before him. Broadly speaking, the three chap- 
ters treat respectively of Discipline, Doctrine, and Duty. 

2. Philemon. — A Colossian converted under the ministry of 
Paul, Philemon was distinguished for his kindness and liber- 
ality, and his house was the regular meeting-place of the Colos- 
sian Christians. Onesimus w^as also a Colossian, and the slave 
of Philemon. Having robbed his master, he fled from Colosse 
and finally drifted to Rome, where he met with Paul, through 
whose instrumentality he was converted. He proved himself 
very serviceable to the Apostle and also confessed his sin 
against Philemon. Thereupon Paul, though attached to the 
fugitive slave, and sorely needing him, either as a personal 
attendant in his captivity or as an active co-laborer in his 
work, decided that Onesimus must return to Philemon. Ac- 
cordingly, he placed in the hands of the penitent slave this 
letter to his offended master, and sent him back to Colosse in 
company with Tycliicus, who bore, at the same time, the letter 
to the Colossians. There is no reason to doubt the effecti^ eness 
of Paul's letter, and that Onesimus received at the hands of 
Philemon both forgiveness as a slave and a cordial reception as 
a Christian brother. 



HEBREWS. 

Study Sectioin^ — Hebrews 10 : 19-39 — Steadfastness Under 

Adversity. 

Fourth Quarter. Lesson XI. 

1. The Author. — While this book is without question entitled 
to its place in the Bible, its authorship is veiled in mystery. 



216 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

The name of Paul does not appear in the most ancient inscrip- 
tions, but was inserted by a later hand, and even in the 
second century tlie identity of the author was unlinown. The 
book has been credited to LuIvC, Clement of Rome, Barnabas, 
Appollos, and others ; so it is certain that if Paul himself wai 
not the author, the book was written under his supervision 
by one of his associates, or at least by one of his school of 
thought. It appeared before, perhaps on the eve of, the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, for the temple services were still ob- 
served and the nation it represented is yet intact. The place 
of composition is not known, though both Ephesus and Rome 
have been named in this connection. 

2. The Helyreivs. — The persons for whom this epistle w^as pri- 
marily intended were Hebrew by race, Hellenistic as to lan- 
guage, and Christian in their faith. Perhaps a church or 
group of churches received the inspired original ; *it was hardly 
the mother church at Jerusalem ; more probably the Jewish 
Christians elsewhere in Palestine ; possibly those at Alexandria, 
Antioch, or Rome. The situation of these believers is clearer 
morally than politically ; they were haunted by the spirit of 
unbelief in Christ ; they were dejected because their simple 
gospel services were eclipsed by the gorgeous ritual of the 
Temple ; and, in particular, they were subject to criticism and 
persecution at the hands of their fellow countrymen. Before 
the taunt that they were traitors to the old faith, they were 
in danger of making wreck of the new and larger faith. 

3. 'The Epistle. — That these persecuted Jewish Christians 
might not only not turn back to Judaism, but hold their ground 
and go forward, this letter was written. The old and new 
covenants are set in their proper light ; the surface differences 
between and the underlying unity of the Law of Moses and the 
Gospel of Christ are clearly defined and emphasized. The legal 
system of the Old Testament has been fulfilled and Christianity 
rises superior to it. By three great and vital tests Christ is 
shown to be superior to angels, to Moses, and to the priesthood 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 217 

Of the Jewish dispensation, whereupon the new covenant is 
vindicated (chapters 1-10:18). On such a sound doctrinal 
basis the writer in the remainder of the Epistle enforces prac- 
tical duties, particularly consecration, steadfastness, faith and 
patience. Thus the types of the old dispensation are inter- 
preted by the living facts of Christianity. 



THE REVELATION. 

Study Section — Revelation 7: 9-17 — The Multitude Before the 

Throne. 
Fourth Quarter. Lesson XII. 

1. Composition. — This last book of the Bible, and only pro- 
phetic book of the New Testament, was written by John, the be- 
loved disciple and apostle, author of the Gospel and epistles 
bearing his name. He was now an exile on Patmos, a small 
island in the Aegean sea, whither he had been banished be- 
cause of his faith. It is uncertain whether this was during 
the reign of Nero, and so just prior to the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, or when Domitian was emperor, and so toward the close 
of the first century ; the latter, about 95 A.D., has been com- 
monly regarded the correct date. At any rate, on that lonely 
isle, and during a period of fiery persecution, was produced this 
matchless Apocalypse. Addressed primarily to seven of the 
prominent churches in the Roman province of Asia, it w^as de- 
signed for the wader circle of Christians in that day and of 
coming ages. 

2. Character. — The Revelation attains and embodies the per- 
fection of apocalyptic literature. The inward point and mean- 
ing, veiled by outward symbols, were in the main entirely clear 
to those for whom originally intended. That many things are 
conjectural or incomprehensible, does not stamp the book as 
profitless ; for to the receptive, it is one of the most instructive 
books in the Bible. In the interpretation of its visions schol- 



218 CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 

ars have ranged there selves into three schools. Accordi^ig tO) 
the Preterist view, it refers to the triumph of Christianity over 
Paganism and Judaism as marked by the overthrow of Rome 
and Jerusalem. The Historical view regards it as a progress- 
ive history of the church from its institution to the end of 
time ; thus of its predictions some are fulfilled, some now ful- 
filling, some yet to be fulfilled. The Futurist vtew transfers the 
entire book (except the first three chapters) to the period of 
the Second Coming of Christ, and regards it as a literal picture 
of events to occur at the close of the age. Whatever be the 
correct view, we may be sure that this inspired apocalyptic 
epistle was full of instruction and comfort for the persecuted 
churches. 

3. Contents. — For artistic finish and unity this is surpassed 
by no book in the Bible. Eight verses of introduction and six- 
teen verses of conclusion bound the seven sevens contained in 
the body of the book. They have been enumerated by Dr. B. 
C. Taylor as follows : 

I. The Seven Churches (1: 9 to 3: 22). 

II. The Seven Seals (4 to 8: 1). 

III. The Seven Trumpets (8: 2 to 11: 19). 

IV. The Seven Mystic Figures (12-14). 
V. The Seven Bowls (15, 16). 

YI. The Sevenfold Judgment (17 to 19: 10). 
VII. The Sevenfold Triumph (19 : 11 to 22 : 5). 

So, in Revelation, we have a final forward look to the con- 
summation of the age, the complete triumph of the good, and 
the ultimate glory of Jehovah. 



REVIEW. 

Study Section — Rev. 22 : 16-21 — Closing the Canon. 

Fourth Quarter. Lesson XIII. 

In the Pauline Epistles and the Revelation we have fifteen 

books composed by the two most prolific of the New Testament 



THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE. 219 

authors and appearing during the latter half of the first cen- 
tury. 

1. The Writers. — Paul wrote thirteen letters bet^Yeen the 
years 53 and GG x\.D. His literary ^york \Yas done sometimes 
in the midst of urgent missionary activities, sometimes when 
shut up in the Roman prison, and again when stimulating his 
j'ounger co-laborers in their pastoral duties. The author of 
the epistle to the Hebrews, if not Paul himself, was certainly 
an associate or disciple of the Apostle. To the beloved disciple 
we are indebted for the Revelation, which w^as produced prob- 
ably taward the close of the centiiry and during a period of 
great persecution. 

2. The Readers. — The persons originally addressed in these 
Epistles were scattered over the great centers of the Roman 
Empire. Paul wrote to the cliurches of Galatia and the cities 
of Ephesus and Colosse in Asia Minor ; to Philippi, Thessalon- 
ica, and Corinth, in the Grecian peninsula ; and to Rome, the 
seat and metropolis of the empire. He also wrote personal 
letters to Timothy, his missionary associate ; to Titus, his helper 
in Crete ; and to Philemon, his Colossian friend. The author 
of the Hebrews wrote to the persecuted Jewish Christians, who 
may have been resident in Palestine, though hardly in Jerusa- 
lem. Seven representative churches in the Roman i^rovince of 
Asia were the earliest recipients of the Apocalypse. 

3. The Letters. — Of the writings of Paul, six may be styled 
the Missionary Epistles, because they were written during the 
period of incessant missionary labors on two continents : The 
Thessalonian letters appeared in 53, fifteen years after his 
conversion ; five years later. First and Second Corinthians, Gala- 
tians and Romans were written. There were four Prison 
Epistles — Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon — which 
were written during Paul's first imprisonment at Rome. The 
three Pastoral Epistles — First and Second Timothy and Titus — 
date from the period between the Apostle's two Roman impris- 
onments. The letter to the Hebrews was designed to stimulate 



220 



CONVENTION NORMAL MANUAL. 



to steadfastness the Jewish Christians who were taunted and 
persecuted by their Jewish kinsmen. The Revehition was ad- 
dressed to churches persecuted by tlie Roman power, and its 
message of instruction and comfort was conveyed in the sub- 
limest symbols of apocalyptic literature. 




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An Experience of Grace. Three Notable Instances — Saul of Tarsus, 

John Jasper and Edward Everett Hale, Jr. J. M. Frost, D.D. 

Cloth, 12mo., pp. 112. Price, prepaid: cloth, 40 cents; paper, 

25 cents. 

Isaac Taylor Tichenor: The Home Mission Statesman. J. S. Dill, 
D.D. 12mo., pp. 168. Price: Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 25 cents, 
postpaid. 



BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD 
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(221) 



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1. Pastor and the Sunday School, Hatcher $ 50 

2. Pastoral Leadership of Sunday School Forces, Sohauffler. 50 

3. Twentieth Century Sunday School, Greene 50 

4. The Organized Sunday School, Axtell 50 

5. Manual of Sunday School Methods, Foster 75 

6. The Bible School, McKinney 60 

7. The Normal Course Manual 50 

8. Teaching and Teachers, Trumbull 1 25 

9. The Teaching Problem, Axtell 50 

10. How to Conduct a Sunday School, Lawrence 1 25 

11. Pastor and Teacher Training, McKinney 50 

12. Modern Methods of Sunday School Work, Meade 1 50 

13. Seven Laws of Teaching, Gregory 50 

14. The Point of Contact, DuBois 75 

List No. 2» Price $1.80 

For Primary Workers 

15. Practical Primary Plans, Black $1 00 

16. A Study of Child Nature, Harrison 1 00 

Combination Price 

Lists Nos. 1 and 2 $10 00 



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PRICE LIST PER QUARTER. 

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Superintendent's Quarterly, 56 pages 15 



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The Moral Dignity of Baptism 

BY J. M. FROST 

Cloth, 12mo. 282 pages. Price, 90 cents, postpaid. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS . 



I. Having Fellowship in Bap- 
tism. 
II. IVIoral Dignity of the Act. 

III. Baptism of Jesus in the 

Jordan. 

IV. Jesus Buried in J(^eph's 

New Tomb. 
V. Problem of the Empty 
Sepulcher. 
yi. Baptism and Other IVIonu- 

ments. 
VM. Baptism and the Trinity. 



VIII. The New Birth and then 
Baptism. 
IX. Baptism of the Believer. 
X. The Believer's Risen Life. 
XI. The Lord's Baptism and 
the Lord's Supper. 
XII. The Essential Form of 
Baptism. 

XIII. Foretoken of Final Resur- 

rection. 

XIV. Three Visions of the Son 

of Man. 



The Memorial Supper of Our Lord 

BY J. M. FROST 
Cloth 12mo. 282 pages. 90 cents, postpaid. 



I. In What Sense 
munlon. 

II. A Memorial Service for His 
Disciples. 

III. The Christian Holy of 

Holies. 

IV. The Lord Commands His 

Memorial. 

V. A Companion Memorial to 
Baptism. , 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 
a Com 



VI. The Memorial and Its 

Restriction. 

VII. The Memorial Signet Set 

in Red. 
VIII. The Searchlight Turned 
Within. 
IX. In Memory of Christ Him- 
self. 
X. The Memorial's Crowning 
Paradox. 
XI. Foregleam of the Heavenly 
Kingdom. 



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Nashville, Tenn. 
(224) 



iUN 14 1909 J 



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